Rogue Squadron: Moff Seerdon's War
by NedeserThul
Summary: As Rogue Squadron grows more and more bold with their attacks on Imperial targets, Imperial Moff Kohl Seerdon pursues them in what ever way he can, often employing the most brutal tactics to draw them out. As the conflict intensifies, Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles make it their personal mission to bring the Imperial Moff down.
1. Chapter 1: Balmorra Construction Yards

**Space - Aboard the MC80 Star Cruiser** _ **Independence**_

Commander Luke Skywalker stood before Rogue Squadron, HIS squadron, getting ready to brief them on the next Imperial target - the Imperial AT-AT, AT-ST and TIE Fighter factories on the industrial world of Balmorra. To his right stood his XO, Wedge Antilles and to his left, the most recent member of their squadron, an Imperial defector Kasan Moor. The other nine members of the squadron waited anxiously as General Carlist Rieekan strode in with Alliance Intelligence Agent Winter Retrac. "I apologize for keeping you all waiting, Rogue Squadron. Your next target are the TIE Fighter and Imperial Walker factories on Balmorra. Now, according to our intel and according to what Lieutenant Moor has reported, these facilities lightly guarded. There are only a few XX-10 Turbo laser towers and TIE Fighter patrols. Ironically enough, there will not be many light and heavily armored units deployed either. The crucial factor to this mission is that there are sensor arrays in the approaches to the factories. You will be deployed in modified combat airspeeders. Instead of the regular blaster cannons, they will be armed with higher powered laser cannons. The speeders are easier to maneuver in atmosphere and because they can fly low enough to sneak up on the scanners and destroy them. You will be dropped out of their range just as you were on Corellia and Ralltiir by the _Hapless_. Are there any questions, pilots?"

Hobbie Klivian lifted a hand and asked, "Yes, Sir. Why speeders? Wouldn't BTL-A4 Y-wing Bombers be a better choice for something like this?"

The General sighed and said, "Yes they would. However, our resources are stretched thin. We do not have the proton bombs to arm the Y-wings with so we thought that modifying T-47 Airspeeders with heavier laser cannons is unfortunately our only option. We don't even have proton torpedoes for the X-wings at the moment, I'm afraid. The hope is that a joint ambush by Grey Squadron and Renegade Squadron is going to be able to secure bulk freighters full of the necessary ordinance from an Imperial convoy. In the mean time, this mission must be completed and our best intel assets, including your Lieutenant Moor, agree that this should work with the upgrades we made to the speeders. Any other questions?"

None were forthcoming and General Rieekan and Agent Retrac left. Dak Ralter sighed and said, "I always feel a little depressed when Agent Retrac leaves the room."

Wedge laughed and said, "Dak, it's going to take someone really special to steal her heart. Seriously, if she broke up with Commander Skywalker, what in space makes you think she'll go for you?"

Dak shrugged and said, "Hopeful thinking, maybe?"

* * *

 **Balmorra - The Imperial Construction Yards**

When the _Hapless_ dropped out of hyperspace and entered orbit, six airspeeders dropped out of the Corvette and dove straight down, leveling off more and dropping more gradually until they skimmed mere meters of the ground, well below the sensor arrays. Two at a time, they would angle upward and destroy the sensors arrays skillfully without entering the sensors' scanner fields. Even as skilled as they were, it was a very ticklish business. At one point, Tycho and Zev almost flew to high before ducking down quickly again. Finally, the last sensors array was destroyed and they soared through the opening into a massive network of wide canyons. In those canyons were landing pads, assembly lines, and racks, large and small, of everything from TIE Fighters, Walkers, armor plating, laser cannons and other pieces and parts of the weapons and vehicles that were being constructed there. "Alright, Rogue Squadron - go in three pairs of speeders. Wedge, head towards the AT-ST factories and assembly lines. Zev, get after TIE facilities. I'm heading for the AT-AT production plant. Keep you eyes open for fighters. If all you can do at the moment is destroy the power generator, start with that and go from there."

Luke and Kasan zipped towards the walker facility. It was massive, perfectly fitting the size of the behemoth walkers it produced and there was row upon row of AT-AT waiting to be armed and armored. "Rogue Leader, the fuel cells are between the four legs. They will be full since the walkers have to be guided into their places on the racks where they would eventually be armed and armored. Aim for them and aim for the corridor between the body and pilot station in the head as well."

They both flew low and tilted upward enough to fire at the fuel cells. The explosion was spectacular, beginning a chain reaction that took out several walkers. "Wow! That was effective;" murmured Luke. Kasan chuckled and replied, "Yup. I recommend splitting and attacking at will, Rogue Leader."

"Acknowledged. Let's do it, Rogue Seven" replied Luke. They blasted AT-AT after AT-AT into scarp until the entire rack was demolished. The facility itself, they targeted, focusing on relay stations, power generators and ordinance cells as well. The facilities were huge and it took some targeting. Luke was getting quite anxious. He constantly muttered, "I really wish these speeders had more than just laser cannons and tow cables;" until Dak said, "Commander, with all do respect, shut up! You're beginning to make me anxious."

Luke took a deep breath and examined the facility below. It was smoking and had no power. Desperate to do more damage, Luke reached out with the force and examined the building. To his surprise, the force indicated an area at the rear of the facility where their was a massive weak point. What it was, he wasn't sure but it was there. Coming round, Luke tilted so that he was sideways, flying along the wall of the canyon and opening up on the area with a vengeance. The entire building erupted in greasy green flames and Dak cursed. "Shavit, Luke! What the hell?"

Over their comms, Kasan said, "Rogue Leader, are you alright? That explosion was massive!"

Luke grinned and replied, "Yup, I'm good - pulled up in time to avoid it. What the hell did I just shoot?"

"I think it was probably the waste storage section of the facility;" replied Kasan. The entire AT-AT facility was pretty well destroyed now. The ordnance dump, the weapons facility, the walker racks, the fuel depot and now the walker factory itself was in ruins. Luke was immensely satisfied. "Rogue Squadron, report in."

"The TIE factory is pretty banged up but the factory is largely whole though it isn't receiving power:" replied Zev Senesca. "Try the rear of the facility. I found a waste dump at the AT-AT factory and it stands to reason that their would be one at the TIE factory. Dido with the AT-ST facility."

The Rogues acknowledged. Luke watched as the TIE facility went up in flames. Every Imperial structure in sight was laid to waste and there wasn't even a token resistance against them. The closest thing to trouble was the squadron of TIE Fighters spread out on patrol and it was eliminated very quickly. "How are you doing, Rogue Three?" Luke called to Wedge. Just a moment later, the Corellian replied, "We just finished cleaning up. I think it's safe to say that we're ready for pick up, Luke."

"Agreed. Rogue Squadron, form on me. We're heading back to the _Hapless_."

The comms came alive with whoops, Corellian yells and war cries as they streaked heavenward. " _Hapless_ , this is Rogue Leader reporting mission complete. Come and get us and take us home;" commed Luke jubilantly. The corvette dropped out of the clouds and the speeders flew aboard. When all six were secure, the corvette left the planet's atmosphere and entered hyperspace.

* * *

 **Space over Kuat - The Imperial Star Destroyer** _ **Enforcer**_

Moff Kohl Seerdon rubbed his throbbing temples and dropped yet another report onto his desk. He began counting down from ten and was mildly surprised that the Emperor's Hand did not glide through the door as soon as he reached one. In fact it was almost fifteen minutes after he had expected her that she came through. By then, Moff Seerdon was gazing out the view port of his office, a glass of Corellian brandy in his hands. "Moff Seerdon;" came the cool feminine voice as she strode up beside him. He favored her with a polite smile and respectful dip of his head. "Emperor's Hand; I take it that his majesty the Emperor is not pleased."

"Are you surprised, Moff Seerdon? It's been over a year since the battle of Yavin and no one has managed to bring down Rogue Squadron. After the Emperor assigned you the mission, he assumed and expected that it would be resolved more quickly than this. He expects me to send him a report within the hour and I need to know what to tell him."

Moff Seerdon sighed and said, "Any reason I can give will be viewed by his majesty as nothing more than churlish excuses."

They were both silent for a long moment before the Imperial Moff said, "Tracking down Rogue Squadron is every bit as difficult as tracking down the Rebel fleet - more so even sense it's only twelve men instead of hundreds of ships. Before it was difficult since they never hit hard targets, only pointless soft ones. Now however, their growing bold. Kasan Moor is providing them with targets and information but the last place I thought they would attack is Balmorra."

The Emperor's Hand crossed her arms. "Imperial Intelligence suggests that they are working closely with Crix Madine and Carlist Rieekan. Both are recognized as brilliant military men. They don't choose the obvious targets, they choose the meaningful and important ones. The question is, how do they decide what is important? They destroyed two major weapons factories. What's next?"

Moff Seerdon went to his desk and brought up a list of Imperial targets. There were dozens that could be considered. Slowly, he took targets off the list. "How are you determining the potential targets, Moff Seerdon?" asked the Emperor's Hand. The Moff smiled and replied, "There are many targets that are simply too much for a single fighters squadron to handle. Even if Rogue Squadron was working with one or two other squadrons and a company of commando's we can still eliminate many from the list. For example, they would not attack the shipyards at Fondor or here on Kuat. They are simply too well defended. At the same time, our research facility at Fest for example, would be a prime target. When I have narrowed down my list, I will put the facilities on high alert. I will also assign scout ships to watch for attacks and to follow the Rebels when they flee, whether they are successful or not."

The young woman ran a hand through her golden-red locks before saying, "I will report to the Emperor. I'm sure that, given your plans, I will be able to convince him to leave you on this mission. Otherwise, you will likely be put under Darth Vader's direct command."

Moff Seerdon felt a flash of fear and disdain. "I wouldn't want that;" he murmured to himself. At the door to his quarters, the Emperor's Hand replied, "No one would. Keep me informed, Moff Seerdon."

"Of course;" returned the Moff, only half listening as he crossed off several more targets - Coruscant, Kessel and Lothol. The first two would be far too well guarded and the third was already ruined by Rebel attacks before Yavin. As he whittled down the list, his name kept being drawn to Kile II. It was a massive Army base, listening post and military space port where massive amounts of fleet supplies and ordnance went through. He highlighted it as a highly possible target. There were no Imperial fleets anywhere near it. However, four TIE Interceptor Squadrons guarded it. Taking notes on a datapad, Moff Seerdon returned to his desk and refilled his tumbler with Corellian Brandy when a thought suddenly struck him. Using his datapad to look through past reports of Rogue Squadron encounters and found an interesting pattern - many of them were responses to situations. The skirmish on Tatooine was a response to the Empire's efforts to intimidate the locals. Dantooine was to rescue the traitor Tycho Celchu. Barkhesh was a call for assistance and so on and on. The first dozen missions almost were rescues or responses to Imperial aggression. A slow smile began to spread over the Moff's face. "If I cannot go to engage Rogue Squadron, then I shall bring Rogue Squadron to a place of my choosing so that they can engage me."

 **Updated 12.20.2017**


	2. Chapter 2: Assault on Kile II

**Aboard the** ** _Independence_**

Luke Skywalkers sidled through the mess line, humming a quiet toon to himself. His week, for once, had been going exceptionally well. A series of minor missions had been very successful. General Rieekan had put the entire squadron in for awards and commendations for their successes. He had gotten several long hours of lightsaber practice in as well. There were even rumors of Luke being promoted to Wing Commander in the near future and being put in charge of an entire elite fighter wing. That made Luke uncomfortable though. He didn't think that, at twenty-one years old, he was anywhere near ready to lead thirty-six to a hundred and twenty pilots and starfighters.

As Luke contemplated this, someone bumped his elbow, nearly making him drop his tray. Looking up sharply, Luke saw Kasan Moor grinning at him. With a wink she said, "Oh, sorry Luke. Nearly made you spill your breakfast there."

Luke chuckled and said, "That's not very nice. I might have to assign some extra duties for that, Lieutenant."

Kasan pouted and said, "Oh come on, you didn't spill anything."

Luke just shook his head, continueing the jest. "Nope, your duty is that you have to be range safety when I go to qualify later this evening."

Kasan sighed damatically, hiding the fact that she was pleased that he had asked her. "I'm sorry, Commander, but I actually need to qualify myself so I can't do that."

Luke frowned and replied, "I see. I thought all the other Rogues were able to a couple days ago."

They both found seats and Kasan explained, "I was briefing Command on a possible next mission. Hey, where were you?"

Luke shrugged. "I had a mission with Princess Leia."

Kasan nodded, studying him closely as she sipped caf before saying, "You and the Princess are pretty close. How do you two know each other?"

Luke blushed and said, "Oh, we met when I first joined the Alliance. I, uh, helped her out and she brought me and Captain Han Solo to Yavin in time to participate in the fight against the Death Star. We hit it off pretty well, I guess. Why do you ask?"

Kasan shrugged and took a mouthful of some kind of hot cereal. "Just curious and being a busy body I guess. Rumor has it you too have been dancing around romance for some time and no one can seem to figure out why."

Luke blushed and chuckled at the same time, replying as he gazed into his caf cup, "I don't think that's the case. We're good friends and I do care about her but romance? No, I don't think so."

Kasan nodded, a slow smirk spread over her face. "But you wish there was?"

Luke shook his head. "I wouldn't be horribly opposed but she's focusing on being an Alliance leader and I-" and he paused, an embarrassed look crossing his face. "I don't seem to do well on the relationship front - at least not in the middle of a war and rebellion."

Kasan chuckled and said, "Really? How many relationships have you been in since you joined - what, a year ago or so?"

Luke looked down at his food and ate another mouthful before muttering, "Two..."

Her eyes widened and she cleared her voice, stifling another laugh. "Two, huh? I heard about those - Winter Retrac and that sexy Twi'lek mercenary Rianna Saren, right? Wait though, didn't you also have a fling with that supply and ordinance specialist? What's her name - Deena Shan?"

Luke looked even more embarrassed and grumbled again, "Well - that wasn't really a relationship. I mean - I mean it was more, um, physical than anything."

Kasan couldn't help but chuckle. "Luke, why the hell are you so embarrassed by that? In the Imperial Navy, just about the only relationship you can have on the level we're at is one based only on sex because you can hide that kind of relationship a whole lot more easily than an actual relationship. Is it supposed to be different here?"

Luke shrugged and said, "I don't know, really. I just know that I don't want to be known as that soldier with a fling in every star port. Remember last seventy-two hour leave we took on Malastare?'

Kasan chuckled at the memory. They had gone to a casino area and some of the Rogues had gambled their already small paychecks away. Surprisingly, Luke found he was good at Pazaak but was terrible at Sabaac. "Well," Luke said, "Wedge knew a girl there and disappeared with her for awhile while the rest of us went to the tables. I asked how he knew her when he got back and he said that most of them had someone like that at every regular leave site."

Kasan was shaking her head with a smile. "When I was part of the Empire, I didn't exactly have a boy in every spaceport but I did try to get some action when I went to each. I usually hung out with a female stormtrooper and a female turbolaser gunner. We all looked after each other and took turns finding guys. Luke, I must say that you are a different military man than most that I have ever met - Alliance or Empire."

Luke grinned and said, "I'll take that as a compliment. Honestly, though, it was how I was raised 'til I was nineteen."

Kasan nodded and said, "Well I find it both refreshing and even a little charming;" before standing and saying, "So, see you at the ranges later?"

Luke grinned. "I'm looking forward to it."

* * *

Later that evening, Luke had a spring in his step as he head to the range, several standard issure blasters on his person. He had the DL-44 heavy blaster pistol that was given to all pilots, a DH-17 blaster pistol and an A280 assault blaster rifle. They were all the standard issure weapons that all service personell were required to qualify with. I was surprised, when getting to the range, to see that Kasan was waiting with three additional weapons. She had the E-11 blaster rifle, an SE-14r light blaster pistol and a DLT-20A long blaster rifle sitting next to her on the firing line, all Imperial issue weapons she undoubtably brought with her or acquired somehow. "Very nice, thought those E-11's are useless further than sixty or seventy meters;" he said, very impressed with what he saw. Kasan nodded, "Well that is what this little darling is for."

She lifted the long rifle and peered down the sights. "I figured after we get done with qualifications, we can play with some unfamiliar weapons."

Luke nodded eagerly. Lying side by side, they took their Alliance issued weapons one at a time and went through their marksmanship qualifications. It measured accuracy and personal rate of fire. When it came to marksmanship, Luke held his pilots to a much higher standard. Who knew when they would wind up facing an enemy on the ground after ejecting or crashing or simply because a mission required it. If the average pass requirement for the Alliance was an eighty-two percent. Luke required at least a ninety. So far, all his pilots passed and some even got a one hundred percent. Luke had found some time ago that the force could assist his marksmanship and, therefore, always scored a one hundred percent. They took turns and Kasan, hearing about Luke's reputation, allowed him to go first. By the time he finished, her mouth was hanging open with surprise. "What?" asked Luke self conciously. "That was amazin.?" she said. Luke blushed and shrugged modestly. "What can I say? I kind of have an unfair advantage. Anyhow, you're turn."

Kasan was determined to score at one hundred percent, but unfortunately she wasn't able to, scoring at a ninety-seven percent with her weapons. Seeing her score, she frowned and said, "Blast!"

Luke widened his eyes. "What? You scored higher than all the others except myself and maybe Zev Senesca. Like I said, I have an unfair advantage and Zev has freakish good vision."

Kasan sighed and relented before grinning and saying, "Alright, let's play."

* * *

 **Orbit over Kuat - Aboard the** _ **Enforcer**_

Moff Kohl Seerdon strode as quickly as he could onto the bridge of his Destroyer. "Admiral Oashi, prepare the fleet. We're going to Kile II. I want us to jump in ten minutes."

The Admiral blanched and gave the orders before murmuring to Moff Seerdon, "Moff Seerdon, it's ten hours away at regular cruising speeds. Why are you so convinced that the Alliance will strike there?"

"Because there are going to be three supply convoys there in two hours. Not only that, it's our largest Army base in that sector and has a sensors and communications post and the spaceport is one of the largest and most important for our entire military effort;" explained Moff Seerdon. Normally he didn't feel any need to explain things to his underlings but Admiral Oashi had a keen military mind and was also at least competent enough to relay orders before asking. The Admiral nodded and said, "Understood, Sir."

"Blast!" cursed Moff Seerdon as he turned to leave the bridge again, "The bridge is yours, Admiral. I must inform the-"

Suddenly, the door hissed open and a young woman in a skintight leather bodysuit and black cloak quickly strode onto the bridge, her face a grim frown. Before she could even speak, Moff Seerdom gave a shallow bow and said quietly, "Ah, Emperor's Hand, I was just coming to inform you that I strongly believe that the Rebels will be attacking our facilities on Kile II and I believe that we can get there either before or during their attack."

The golden-red haired young woman's frown deepened and she said, "How can you be sure, Moff Seerdon and if the Rebels do attack, how can you be sure it will be Rogue Squadron?"

Moff Seerdon's smile remained fixed. "We have three large convoys that will be there going to important places, including my fleet. Not only that, it has the largest Army base in the sector and a massive sensor's array and comms array post. It's a prime target."

The Emperor's Hand looked skeptical but did not press the moff, saying instead, "Do what you must, Moff Seerdon. However, I need immediate clearence to leave the ship. The Emperor has an important mission for me."

Moff Seerdon felt relief that he tried to hide as he courtiously replied, "You will have that clearence by the time you reach the hanger. Take care, Emperor's Hand. I do hope we will meet again under less formal circumstances."

The Emperor's Hand's cold gaze gave him a slight shiver. "I would not hold my breath, Moff Seerdon. If I see you again, it would most likely be a very _bad_ day for you."

With that, her cloak swirled as she left the bridge. Moff Seerdon couldn't help but chuckle as he took his comlink and ordered that the Emperor's Hand be cleared to leave. "What a remarkable woman;" he murmured.

* * *

 **Aboard the** ** _Independence_**

All twelve of the Rogues were sitting in a briefing being given by General Rieekan, Agent Retrac and Kasan was the one giving the majority of the intel. Aside from the Rogues, there were also twelve pilots from a newly staffed Blue Squadron as well who would be flying X-wings while we flew the newer single man BTL-A4 Y-wing Fighter/Bombers. "The target is on the planet Kile II. It's a massive observation and listening post, a huge Army post and an Imperial military supply space port. From what I understand, there are three separate convoys refueling and resupplying - one to deliver to an Imperial Fleet, another to the Imperial Army base and then the third to Darth Vader's new flagship."

Kasan stepped to the side and General Rieekan took over. "Your mission is destroying the space port, grounding the freighters and transports with ion cannons, destroying the barracks and destroying the massive sensors away. The Y-wings will be armed with twenty proton bombs per fighter and their soul mission is to lay waste to the structures. Disabling the transports and freighters is second to that. Blue Squadron will take X-wings as escorts for the slower Y-wings. At the same time, if the Y-wings are running low on ordinance, the X-wings can use their torperos to destroy any remaining targets. Any questions of concerns?"

Luke glanced over at the Blue Squadron commander Merrick Simms and they shared a respectful nod. "Alright," said General Rieekan, "let's get to it. You'll be launching in an hour. Commander Skywalker," Luke turned to the general. "Commander Simms asked that you be put in charge of this mission. May the force be with you all."

* * *

 **Orbit over Kile II**

The twelve X-wings and twelve Y-wings dropped out of hyperspace and streaked at the highest speed that the Y-wings could go to the planet below. The Imperial facilities were on the nightside of the world just as they had planned. Over both Squadrons' frequencies, Luke called, "Alright, listen up; as soon as we enter atmo, we're breaking into groups of eight - four X-wings and four Y-wings - an we'll be going to each of the target zones. I'll be taking one to the space port, Commander Simms will be taking one to the barracks and Rogue Three will be leading the strike on the sensors array and communications away. Any concerns?"

There were twenty-three negatives and Luke set his jaw and said, "Lock s-foils in attack position, Blue Squadron. We're going in."

They all went unnaturally silent, their breathing sounded loud in one another's ears. When they felt the shift and terbulance of entering atmosphere, the galaxy around them roared. When they broke cloud cover and leveled off, there was no resistance. Then, suddenly, turbolaser cannons and anti-air missile turrets opened up immediately, forcing the Rebel pilots to dive into the canyons where the majority of the enemy emplacements couldn't hit them. Whenever the Rogues and Blue Squadron came across the turrets in pairs and groups of four, it was a simple matter to level them with laser cannons. "Rogue Leader, this is Blue Leader - I have located and locked onto the Army base and am moving to engage."

"Acknowledged; Rogues Eight, Ten, Eleven and Twelve will go with you." replied Luke as Artoo scanned for the spaceport. It didn't take long. After a stream of whistles and beeps, Luke said, "Spaceport Rogues Two, Four and Six, with me. Rogues Five, Seven and Nine - you're with Rogue Three when he finds the sensors and communications array post."

Suddenly, Artoo squealed and Luke saw on his scopes that clusters of red dots began coming in on all sides. "Inbound fighters!" he called, grating it out as if he were cursing. "Rogue Leader, this is Blue Four, my group and I will cover you."

Luke watched as two red dots on his tail disappeared in quick succession before focusing back on the mission. "We're a kilometer and a half out. As soon as we get their, engage at will. Blue Four, you doing okay?"

"Copy that, we're mostly clear and will form on your six;" came the crackling reply. Luke sighed with relief and replied, "Excellent, Blue Four. Engage any and all emplacements. Don't worry about the fighters unless they become too much of a nuisance. Coming up on the space port now."

They broke the narrow canyon and went into a massive opening - a crater probably caused by a massive piece of falling debris or a bombardment. The space port was guarded by numerous guns and missile launchers but the Blue Squadron pilots leveled one after another after another while the Rogues precision bombed the spaceport, destroying the landing pads, power generators, fuel depot and short range sensors and communications equipment. It took every bomb that the Y-wings contained. "There are still a few buildings left, Blue Four. Your X-wings will have to finish the job. We're going to start disabling the freighters and transports so they can't take off."

"Acknowledged, Rogue Leader; engaging now;" came the calm reply. Luke methodically disabled one freighter and transport with his forward facing ion cannon, rendering them useless. Every now and again, he would use his laser cannons to scatter groups of Imperial Soldiers. "Well done, Rogues and well done, Blue Squadron. That's it for the spaceport. Blue Leader, report."

It was moments before the reply came. "We just finished, Rogue Leader and are heading to your location."

"Solid copy;" said Luke before hailing Wedge. "Rogue Three, this is Rogue Leader - what's the status on your objective?"

There was an explosion of crackling static. "The objective is complete but we just got hit by a wave of Imperial reinforcement. We're headed your way."

Luke felt a rush of anxiety and replied, "We'll meet you half way, Rogue Three. Just hold out a little longer."

They didn't have that long however because as soon as Luke finished, Wedge began to sound panicked, "Rogue Leader, we're getting hit hard. I don't have nav control anymore... can't steer straight... main computer off line... targeting computer off line! Kriff, they just got Seven and Nine... I can't-" and suddenly, the comms cut out and Luke felt icy fear grip him. "Can't this tug go any faster?" he growled, "Boost the power, Artoo!"

"Rogue Leader, this is Blue Leader - I've just lost four of my pilots and the mission is accomplished. We need to go!"

Luke snarled, "No! We need pick up our pilots! Artoo, activate long range transmitting to the _Redemption_."

He ignored Blue Leader's protests as he sent a transmission requesting help. When Luke received confirmation of an incoming rescue shuttle, he called to the other Rogues, "Rogue Squadron, we have three pilots down. Find them, give us a shout and guard them as best as you can. Blue Leader, get out if you need to but we're staying here."

There was a pause for just a moment before Blue Leader said, "If it's all the same to you, we'll help provide cover."

Luke gave a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Blue Leader."

"Rogue Leader, this is Rogue Two, we've found an Y-wing - not sure whose. Rogue Five and I are holding here. Dido with Blue Two and Blue Three."

"Acknowledged;" replied Luke and then gave a small cry as he saw another crashed Y-wing and a pair of X-wings with blue streaks. "Blue Leader, I have two of your pilots and one of mine. Rogue Two and I will Hold here with Blue Four and Blue Six. Someone find that last Y-wing.

TIE Fighters whirled around them but TIE's were not as good at atmospheric dog fighting and the pilots overcompensated for the narrow canyon walls - that was until the more advanced and specialized TIE Strikers decended from the orbiting Star Destroying. Just before they opened, they were engaged by a group of A-wings from Grey Squadron. Luke breathed a sigh of relief. "Rogue Squadron, guard any incoming shuttles from - that's the _Millennium Falcon!_ "

The old YT-1300 light freighter dropped out of the sky, its dorsel Quad gun engaging targets as it dropped. Luke wasn't sure who was flying, who was gunning and who were dropping down while the freighter hovered eighteen meters above the canyon floor. "You're doing great, Kid," crackled Han Solo's voice over the comms, "we have three pilots. The two X-wing pilots have very minor injuries so far but I think your Rogue may have some serious injuries."

Luke clenched his teeth, frustration getting the better of him. "Who is it, Han?"

"One Lieutenant Kasan Moor;"

Luke was relieved and yet still doubly worried. "Make her comfortable. I have to find Wedge."

Luke, his wing man and the two X-wings at his back. They blazed through the canyons, the _Falcon_ close behind. They came on the second downed Y-wing with the pilot standing on top. Two more lines dropped from the _Falcon's_ boarding hatch. "Han?" Luke snapped. The reply was quick. "Sorry, Luke. It's not Wedge and we can't keep looking. The Imperial fleet above - _oh shavit_! That's the _Executor_!"

Luke looked up and saw the mammoth vessel - one Executer-Class Star Dreadnaught. Instantly, Luke felt it - a dark presence. Insinctively, Luke realized that Darth Vader was aboard the monster and gritted his teeth. He wanted to face Vader, wanted to kill him but now, he had his pilots to think about. "Get into orbit and make the jump as soon as you can;" he growled. They had saved two of the four lost Blue Squadron pilots and two of the three lost Rogue Squadron pilots. On top of that, the mission was a success. The Kile II facilities were destroyed.

* * *

 **Aboard the** _ **Enforcer**_

Moff Seerdon glared angrily at the pristine white shuttle that had landed aboard his Star Destroyer. He had almost had Rogue Squadron destroyed, plus a frigate and a second and third rebel squadron until the Super Star Destroyer had dropped out of hyperspace and given a stand down order. Moff Kohl Seerdon had almost destroyed his enemies. He did manage to get three prisoners that he was looking forward to interrogating but he wanted to destroy the enemy."

The shuttle's ramps lowered and down stepped Darth Vader. Remembering that this man was second only to the Emperor, if not officially than at least in applied power, he checked himself to sound polite and welcoming. Standing at attention, he said, "Welcome aboard the _Enforcer_ , Lord Vader. I am surprised that you bothered to come aboard."

The tall, black armored monstrosity replied in his deep voice, "Moff Seerdon, I thought it wise to inform you that your mission has changed. You are still tasked to destroy Rogue Squadron. However, the other Moffs are desturbed that you have crossed into their systems and sectors and several wished me to make sure that it doesn't continue."

Moff Seerdon's mouth fell open and he said, "My Lord, I am supposed to pursue them and destroy them. How can I do so if the other Moffs put such restrictions on me?"

"Perhaps you could try asking their permission first, Moff Seerdon;" replied the Dark Lord, his mechanical voice even slightly dry. Gritting his teeth, Moff Seerdon replied, "With all do respect, my Lord, the orders of the Emperor supersede their ridiculous turf squabbles. I am ordered to pursue them wherever they go. The Emperor did not put any such restrictions on me-"

" _I_ am putting them on you;" snarled Lord Vader and Moff Seerdon was very tempted to tell the Dark Lord exactly where he could stick his Sith restrictions. Taking several deep breaths, the Moff said, "With all do respect, my Lord, the Emperor will here about this."

"He already has, Moff Seerdon;" came a soft, cool voice behind him. Both men turned to face a short, dark clad figure. She approached quickly, removing her hood and revealing shining, golden-red hair. "Lord Vader, by order of the Emperor, you are commanded to return to your command ship at once and contacting him. Moff Seerdon, you are ordered to continue your search - _without restrictions._ First, however, you will return to Imperial Center"

Lord Vader stared at her, his blank mask looking just as angry as his face probably looked beneath. With the woosh of his cloak, Lord Vader reboarded his shuttle.

Moff Seerdon narrowed his eyes but did not speak as the Emperor's Hand turned to leave.

 **Updated 12.20.2017**


	3. Chapter 3: The Rescue of Wedge Antilles

**Coruscant - The Imperial Palace**

Moff Seerdon took another sip from his tumbler and took another bite of the exquisite food. It was a rare honor to eat at the Emperor's table - an honor, what's more, that was the greatest game of political dejarik that was ever played. Lord Vader was not present and that was a plus but it was still a prickly environment. The Emperor's aids were all there as well as the Director of Imperial Intelligence Ysanne Isard who was rumored to be the Emperor's lover. All around the table were the Emperor's dancers, including Mara Jade. Moff Seerdon eyed her balefully before turning back to the Emperor just in time for him to call down to him, "Moff Seerdon, how goes your hunt for the Rebel fighter group Rogue Squardon?"

Moff Seerdon swallowed a mouthful of food before saying, "We engaged them on Kile II and managed to shoot down several, capturing one of them and sending them to the Spice Mines of Kessel. There, I will personally see to his interrogation, your Majesty."

The Emperor smiled and said, "It is a start. Continue your work, Moff Seerdon and upon the completion of your mission, the rewards will be great. Tomorrow, you will depart Imperial Center. Do you have a plan?"

Moff Seerdon smiled and said, "I believe that I do, your Majesty. I noticed that many of their actions are based off of reactions. Therefore, if I can bait them correctly, I might be able to draw them out and destroy them that way."

The Emperor cackled evilly. "A masterful plan, Moff Seerdon! I eagerly await the results. Enjoy your stay in my palace and tomorrow, go and destroy our enemies."

"As my Emperor commands;"

* * *

 **Deep Space - Aboard the** _ **Independence**_

Luke Skywalker was very frustrated with Alliance High Command. They refused to go to Kessel and rescue the pilots. No matter how he pleaded and reasoned, Luke couldn't convince them to change their minds. After admitting defeat, Luke had gone to the mess, eating in silence with his fellow Rogue Squadron pilots. On the way back to his quarters, Luke was nabbed by Kasan Moor who dragged him to the squadron's ready room. Inside were Hobbie, Zev, Tycho and Wes. The latter was far more serious than he usually was. "You have a plan for rescuing Wedge, Boss?"

"What?" asked Luke, confused. Tycho piped up, "What do you mean 'what', Luke? We can't leave Wedge on Kessel! The Squadron isn't the same without him. I heard command won't do anything about it and I figured you'd formulate your own plan. What is it?"

Hobbie pulled a small holo projector, one used more for holding holo models of buildings, ships and space stations. Activating it, a hologram of the prison facilities of Kessel appeared in amazing detail. Its defenses and even its walker and infantry patrols were seen. "According to intelligence, this hover-train transports new prisoners from the main in-processing area to this particular mining facility. The reason we chose this one is because it's the largest and is on the books as a POW camp. Unless our Intel contact was mistaken, it takes almost a week to in process the average prisoner and even longer if it's a person of interest. We assume that Wedge would be given that he's a Rogue and the XO of the squadron;" explained Tycho. Luke looked at him. "Who is your Intelligence source, Tycho?"

Tycho hesitated before saying in a quiet voice, "Winter Retrac;"

Luke nodded, not at all surprised. "Alright, here's what we'll need. From what I heard, there are six Z-95 Headhunter with Ion cannons instead of warhead launchers in the hanger. We'll use those. With them, we'll grab one of those U-wing support ships to carry Wedge away. Now, these trains are well armed and there are TIEs patrolling as well. If we're going to do this, we need to make sure that we hit the train after it's away from the processing center and not too close to the actual prison colony."

Kasan looked nervous. "Isn't there a fleet above Kessel - or at least a Golan platform?"

Tycho shook his head. "The fleet was relocated to another place and we can use the garrison moon as cover and then speed down at full sublight speed and only enough shields to prevent our ships from being shredded on the way down. Was that what you had in mind, Luke?"

Luke nodded and said, "Let's get Dak and one other pilot to pilot the U-wing. I'll get clearance from the hanger and say that we're getting some training in. As soon as that happens, we'll make the jump. We'll have to do it without astro droids, though so I hope these ships' nav computers are good."

"You won't need to worry about another pilot with Ralter. I'll go with him."

All eyes turned towards the entrance to the room. There stood General Crix Madine. They all froze in worry. He gave a small smile and said, "I don't like standing down when one of our best is in an Imperial prison. Since it seems that command doesn't agree, I'll tag along."

They all looked skeptical and he laughed, shutting the door behind him. "So, what's the plan here?"

Luke grinned and eagerly outlined the plan. General Madine nodded with approval. "Well done, Commander. When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow; let's get some rest and we'll be up and in the hanger bright and early;" said Luke, excited that he would be getting his best friend back.

* * *

 **Orbit over Kessel**

The six Headhunters and the U-wing dropped out of hyperspace with the garrison moon between them and the planet. Putting all power to their sublight drives except the power that would need for minimal shields, they blazed in a tight formation heading towards the devastated planet below. They blazed passed the weapons platform before it even had the chance to respond. No one ever attacked the Kessel installations and the platform was completely unprepared. As soon as they were only a few hundred meters above the ground, they cut their sublights and switched to repulsers, screaming towards the hover-train rails. The train wasn't there. Wondering if they had arrived too early, Luke switched to the squadron's comm frequency and said, "We'll follow it back towards the processing center. Maintain visual scanning. Three of you keep an eye out for patrolling fighters."

They called acknowledgements and broke into groups of three. It was only moments before four TIE fighters screamed towards them. "Damn, those things sound so annoying in atmosphere;" muttered Wes. Kasan snorted and said, "Yeah? You should try being inside one. Even with those helmets, the sound is terrible."

Three of them engaged the TIE's, obliterating them quickly before reforming on the others. Luke was becoming anxious as his scanners showed that they were closing on the processing station. Just then, he saw it ahead of them - a hover-train of fifteen cars, three of which were heavily armed. "Rogues, switch to ion cannons and disable the gun cars first. Keep an eye out for walker and fighter patrols. Let's go, Rogues;"

Switching his weapons selector, he opened up at the forward most gun train, avoiding turbo laser and warhead fire as he did. It took a dozen shots to disable and shut down the car. "This is going to take a little longer than I thought."

Three of the Rogues swarmed over, disabling the cars one at a time until it seemed to come to a halt, only held by the magnetic rails. "Alright, General, go and pick up our boy;" said Luke as he spun away and engaged a trio of AT-ST walkers, blowing two of them before pulling up. It seemed to be an inordinate amount of time before General Madine said, "We got 'em. Let's get out of here!"

Kasan laughed and said, "Nice job, Skywalker. They were right when they said that you're the best."

As they pulled away and reformed, Wedge came over the comms. "I thought I was the best!"

"HEY!" said Luke with a grin, happy to hear his friend's voice. Kasan laughed again and said, "How was your time in prison, Antilles?"

"Not so bad - food was surprisingly good but the service was lousy. Take me home, Rogues."

The entire mission had gone off without a hitch - that is, until they arrived on the _Independence_ again. The entirety of High Command, whether in person or using holo-comms, glared at the Rogues and General Madine. "Commander Skywalker, didn't we make it clear that this mission was NOT to be executed?"

Luke, knowing that he was treading on dangerous ground, replied, "I believe your exact words were 'we cannot risk lives to launch a force large enough to perform this mission', Ma'am."

Mon Mothma glared at him coldly and General Rieeken said, "Be careful, Commander. That answer smacks of impudence."

General Madine spoke up and said, "Ladies, Gentlemen, the truth is that I okayed this mission after weighing the tactical risks and, having full faith in Commander Skywalker and his pilots, decided that there was no time to bring it before each other you. If we had waited, Captain Antilles would have been beyond retrieval."

"In other words, General," said Mon Mothma rather frostily, "you discovered they had a plan, liked it and accompanied them so that you could cover them with your clearance. Is that what you mean?"

General Madine grinned broadly and said, "I never said that, Ma'am."

Finally, Mon Mothma seemed to deflate. "You were all very lucky."

Once again serious, General Madine said, "No, Ma'am, we weren't lucky; Skywalker and his pilots are just that good. I have money that intelligence is going to bring news that a fleet will be heading back to guard Kessel again."

Wedge suddenly piped up. "That's not good. Ladies and gentlemen, there are dozens of Rebels on Kessel, suffering and dying in the mines. We can't just leave them there."

Mon Mothma looked exasperated, "Captain Antilles, it was risky enough to rescue you! We can't go up against a prison installation to rescue prisoners. I understand how terrible it is but we simply can't. It would be a disaster. Now, General, Rogues, you are all dismissed."

Outside of the conference room, Crix pulled Luke and Wedge to the side and said, "Carlist and I are going to work on a plan that will succeed, Gentlemen and present it to the council. I'm certain that we'll be able to convince them. Hang tight, Rogues. We'll get our people out."

* * *

 **Imperial** **Center - the Imperial Palace**

Moff Seerdon led the blond haired young courtesan into his quarters with a gentle, polite motion. "Make yourself comfortable, my dear. I will pour us some drinks. Do you need anything else?"

The young woman giggled and said, "Just a drink, Sir. I will be in your bed chamber, eagerly awaiting you."

Moff Seerdon watched her hurry into his chamber. She had a bubbly personality and was very attractive. This would be a very enjoyable night. Going into his suite's kitchenette, Moff Seerdon poured to drinks. When he looked up, he saw Mara Jade standing there. "Ah, Emperor's Hand;" he said respectfully. "How can I help you this evening?"

"The prison facilities of Kessel were just hit."

Moff Seerdon nodded. "I see; and I take it that the Emperor commands that I leave immediately."

She shook her head, her golden-red hair swishing back and forth. "No. He wants you to accelerate your plan. Select a target world and engage it. It is your next immediate objective."

"Understood;" replied the Moff and they both stood there awkwardly. "Is there anything else, Emperor's Hand?"

She waited just a moment when the bubbly blond came out in only her undergarments. "Sir, is everything al-" and she stopped, glaring at Mara. Mara put on her dancer personallity and said, "I'm sorry, Mia. I'm a little drunk and came to the wrong room. I should have left but I just remember when I was able to spend time with Moff Seerdon. You're in for a wonderful night."

She ran from the room, giggling like a misbehaving girl. Moff Seerdon sighed and murmured, "I thought she'd never leave."

"So did I;" cooed the blond.

 **Updated 12.20.2017**


	4. Chapter 4: Rescue on Kessel

Luke and Wedge were engaged in an intense game of holo-chess. Kasan watched in great interest as they stared at one another. Cautiously, Luke put in a move. As it was executed, Wedge leaned back in disgust. "This one is going to end like the last four did. Didn't I just teach you this game like two weeks ago?"

Kasan just laughed as Luke grinned. "You keep opening yourself up. Come on. Let's finish it up. We need to be at the sims for some extra training, remember?"

"What moron keeps scheduling sim time right after dinner?" muttered Wedge and Luke glared at him, much to Kasan's amusement. They finished the game and ran to the sims. The rest of the Rogues were gathered and so, to their surprise, were General's Rieeken and Madine. "Thank you for joining us;" said the former with mild amusement. Luke's face burned and he muttered an apology for being late to his own simulation session. General Madine chuckled and replied, "It's alright. The session is being cancelled anyway. We have a mission and I think you're going to like it. The Alliances four best Squadrons are going to be heading back to Kessel with four transport ships and four teams of commandos. Our goal is to rescue all Rebel prisoners."

The Rogues cheered and Wedge asked eagerly, "What Squadrons will we be working with?"

"Blue Squadron under Merrick Simms, Renegade Squadron under Tia and Ghia and Grey Squadron under Ferroda Grey; each of them has a group of commandos they'll be guarding as well. General Madine and myself will be accompanying you on this missions and we'll each be in a transport. In the others will Captain Serra and Lieutenant Page. We leave for the rendezvous point in an hour. Get a meal in you if you haven't and get to your ships. We're using X-wings and Y-wings."

The Rogues whooped again and bolted for the hanger. Any who hadn't eaten their evening meal dug out ration bars, nutripaste and whatever ever other field rations they had and ate while they began to prep their X-wings. As soon as his own ship was ready, Luke contacted armament and requested full compliments of proton torpedoes. It was always the same argument. Torpedoes were in short supply and expensive so the ordinance master would argue back and forth before finally ordering full compliments for the Rogues and then gave Luke a very rude gesture before ignoring him. Luke didn't care. He got his torpedoes. By the time they were all loaded and ready, it was time to leave. The rendezvous point was a short jump away and they met another X-wing Squadron, two Y-wing Squadrons and a trio of medium transports. Right their, over the holocoms units, the mission briefing was given. "Listen up, pilots; this is going to be a very risky mission. We're going to the largest Imperial prison facility currently operating. Thanks to Intelligence, we know where the rebel prisoners are being held and we know their shifts. Their a six separate facilities. That means two transports and squadrons will be hanging around. We won't have long. Four transports and command groups plus forty-eight starfighters are going to attract a lot of attention.

"Now as soon as we get planetside, the Rogues and Renegades are going for a pair of energy shield generators. They'll raise the shields as soon as we enter orbit. Blue Squadron and Grey Squadron will be engaging all ground emplacements and fighters. As soon as the generators are taken care of, six X-wings and six Y-wings will accompany each transport for air support. Reek as much havoc as you desire just stay close and don't shell the prison buildings. Even after we get the rebels out, there are likely innocent people in there. Any Questions?"

None were forthcoming and General Rieeken said, "Alright, form up and get ready to make the jump to lightspeed. Beginning the countdown on my mark."

* * *

Kessel was still an ugly planet. It was odd shaped and brown and dirty looking and the Imperial patrol ships didn't help anything either. Quickly, the X-wings' s-foils were locked in attack position and they went as quickly as the medium transports would allow down to the planet below, managing to make it before the patrol ships could cut them off. Within the planet's atmosphere, the sky looked orange and sickly and Wedge muttered, "I was hoping it would be awhile before I saw this planet again."

Over all comms frequencies, General Rieeken said, "Alright fighter groups break into your units and engage your designated targets. The transports are preparing to land. May the force be with us."

With that, Luke ordered the Rogues divided into two groups and they sought out the generators. The Imperial's had them well guarded with turbolaser and missile turrets and they had to be careful. The Rogues engaged the turrets, drawing fire while the Renegades dropped a payload of bombs, totally obliterating the generators. Over the comms, General Rieeken was heared. "Good job, pilots. Return to your transports and watch their backs."

It wasn't easy. TIE Fighters and TIE Interceptors were everywhere and even the nimble X-wings consistently had trouble keeping up with them. But these were the best pilots that the Alliance could field and they still kept them off the transports' backs. The Y-wings dropped proton bombs on emplacements, walker patrols and clusters of troops and APC's. Over Rogue Squadron's private channel, Kasan murmured, "These TIE pilots are sloppy. Whoever their commander is, they're a disgrace."

Luke grinned tightly as he twisted out of the fire of a pair of interceptors befor Dak cleared them off his tail. They were pretty sloppy. Suddenly, over the coms came a call. "All pilots, we have an Imperial Star Destroyer dropping out of hyperspace. All squadrons except Rogue Squadron, engage all fighters and bombers launched. Commander Skywalker, divide your fighters and provide cover for the transports."

Luke switched to the Rogue's private frequency and said, "Rogues, break into flights of three and guard the transports."

He then switched to the transports' frequencies, "Transports, this is Rogue Leader, how long 'til you're filled up and getting off the ground?"

"Two of us are about to take off, Rogue Leader."

Luke sighed with relief as he spun towards a flight of bombers, lining up shots and firing, not even waiting for his targeting computer to chime a target lock. Minutes later, the two captains of the transports called that they were lifting off. "Great! The two fighter groups guarding them, see them to hyperspace and then turn around and fly back here as fast as you can."

General Madine issued orders over all frequencies, "Squadrons Blue, Grey and Renegade, attack that Star Destroyer. I want it distracted while those transports get to hyperspace. If you destroy it, I will personally place the highest medals for rendered services on your dress uniforms at the celebration but don't be stupid about it."

Luke continued over-watch of the two remaining transports as they lifted off and landed at the remaining two prison complexes. Scout Walkers and Advanced Raiders were waiting, ready to blast at the transports before they land, while their landed and while they try to take off. Gritting his teeth, Luke fired his torpedoes, clearing the more heavily armored All Terrain Advanced Raiders before engaging the All Terrain Scout Transports with his laser cannons. His fellow Rogues continued to keep TIE Fighters and Bombers off the transports while they unloaded the commandos and the commandos infiltrated the prison facilities. "Squadron leaders, how are you looking up there?" asked Luke anxiously. Each one checked in without fatalities but there were several pilots who had been forced to eject. The Y-wing Squadrons, Grey and Renegade, had been forced to drop their entire payloads of proton bombs, causing the Destroyer's shields to drop. The X-wings then precisely targeted the turbo laser batteries, tractor beam generators, missile turrets and ion cannon batteries. The rebel transports were able to sail by with little damage and make the jump. "Two down, fighter squadrons; doing great and we only have two more. Keep going."

Luke nodded in satisfaction. The squadrons attacking the Destroyer pulled back to the planet and continued guarding the last two transports. More fighters and bombers came from the Destroyer. Luke felt grim satisfaction as he blew another bomber out of the sky. "Whoever this destroyer commander is, he's a complete idiot."

He ate those words seconds later as a second destroyer dropped out of hyperspace.

* * *

Moff Seerdon was immensely pleased with himself. He had Rogue Squadron, two high ranking rebel generals, including one traitor and three additional fighter squadrons right here, as well as two transports jammed to the gunnels with rebel prisoners. Sure, the mines would lose some laborers but that would be hundreds fewer mouths to feed. He would destroy them right here and right now. "I want every single TIE Fighter and TIE Interceptor to launch. Leave the bombers. The transports most likely won't be on the ground much longer anyway. Also, I want the best pilots we have in the Alpha-Class XG1's. They are going to be our precision strikers while the TIE's target the fighter squadrons."

* * *

The transports were lifting off the ground and were about to make for space until Luke said, "No, go over the ground and stay low. We can't face two Star Destroyers. As soon as we can exit atmosphere out of range of their batteries, we will. Y-wings, you'll stay guarding the transports while the Rogues and Renegades take on any fighters that get too close. We need to be moving at full speed out of here."

They received confirmation and General Rieeken spoke to Luke on his private channel. "You sure about this, Commander? We could be pinned against the planet here."

"I am, Sir but we need to get going and go fast."

The transports were ponderous in atmosphere and took some time to get up to speed. The rebels were banking on the fact that whoever the Star Destroyer captains were, they would expect them to make straight for space.

* * *

Moff Seerdon was frowning as he examined the readings again. "They aren't coming out of atmosphere;" he murmured to himself. "What are you up to, rebels?"

He waited a little longer, half listening to the comms from the fighter squadrons, surprised at the rebel pilots ability to withstand waves of TIE's. When the long range scanners indicated that the transports were beginning to head for space, he smiled. That smile suddenly turned sour as he saw what the rebels were doing. "I want the ship brought around eighty-three degris to port and all power to the engines. NOW!"

Most likely, it was too late but he wasn't going to give up so easily. His TIE's and gunboats could still succeed.

* * *

Luke saw the Imperial gunboats coming in and said, "Rogue Three, Rogue Seven - with me. We need to drop those fighters."

Kasan came over the comms nervously. "Rogue Leader, those are advanced fighters and have a massive payload of proton torpedoes. We have to stop them before they get to the transports."

Luke acknowledged and contacted Grey and Renegade Leaders - those who led the Y-wing squadrons. "We have Imperial Missile fighters coming your way. One of you needs to move to intercept."

Tia and Ghia of the Renegades both acknowledged at once, causing Luke to chuckle despite the serious situation. The Rogues were skillfully cleaning off one another's sixes, flying in circles and figure eights and blazing through the storm of enemy fighters. They had practiced this many times, both in the simulators and in their ships. General Rieeken contacted them and said, "Squadron leaders, we just broke atmosphere and will be making the jump in two minutes. Start heading this way."

"Alright Rogues," said Luke, "full power to repulsers and rear shields and after the transports. Time to get away."

"Rogue Leader, this is Grey Leader, we'll clean any enemies immediately off your sixes and then join you."

That gave Luke an idea and he quickly explained it too all squadron leaders. They agreed and a pattern began. Two of the squadrons would blaze forward ten kilometers before turning around and clearing the two rear squadrons of enemies and then they would flip flop. It worked. Whenever the Rogues went back, Luke would specifically target the missile fighters. They were slower than the TIE's but had much, much heavier shields and more powerful weapons. Even so, Luke pounded away at them, blowing them apart. One of their missile magazines ignited, taking a trio of TIE's with it. "Rogue Leader, we're leaving Kessel's atmosphere and are still clear of the Destroyers. It shouldn't be long before we can make the jump to lightspeed."

Luke acknowledged as he blew the last missile fighter and turned back towards the transports. "Form on me, Rogues and get ready to break atmosphere. As soon as possible, we'll make the jump to hyperspace."

"Rogue Leader, this is Rogue Seven, we have TIE Interceptors coming in. I think they might be 128th."

Luke gritted his teeth and called out, "Acknowledged. Rogue Squadron, engage the enemy interceptors and watch each other's sixes. It's the 128th."

After only moments, it was made clear that since Kasan had left, the TIE Interceptor squadron's quality had dropped. Kasan even laughed harshly and said, "Clean them out, Rogues. The transports are jumping in thirty seconds."

Luke chuckled and commanded, "Alright, disengage Rogue Squadron; make for space and we jump in a sixty seconds."

* * *

Moff Seerdon was less than pleased as the transports jumped and then, seconds later, the fighter squadrons jumped as well. "I want all recordings of the fight on the planet below and in atmosphere above. Send them directly to my quarters and contact the other Star Destroyer's captain. I want the recordings from his starships and fighters. Until further notice, I am not to be disturbed."

* * *

Very shortly after they had returned to the Alliance fleet, a massive celebration was thrown. All the pilots were up in their black, white and gold dress uniforms - except of the women who decided to wear dresses and gowns instead.

Luke had watched as from the sides as his pilots had enjoyed themselves. In truth, the young commander was pleased with himself and very pleased with his pilots. One member of command after another had shaken his hand and told him that he was doing the Alliance proud. With a sigh, Luke began to head towards the door, wanting to get his reports from the mission done. "Commander Skywalker;" came a call from behind him. Turning, he saw Kasan coming towards him, wearing an elegant black dress. She looked amazing. With a smile that was almost shy, she said in her rich Imperial accent, "I have danced with every member of Rogue Squadron except for you."

Luke smiled and scuffed his feet slightly before saying, "Well would you like to dance, Kasan?"

In answer, she took his hand and they went onto the floor. Slowly, they swayed together and Kasan murmured, "I like these Alliance uniforms, Commander. They are very well fitted and the colors are far better than the Imperial dress uniforms."

Luke blushed and said, "I think so too. I do have to say that I am glad that command allows pilots to wear civilian formal wear instead. Not all pilots look as good in the uniform as they do in dresses."

Kasan blushed and said playfully, "And when you say 'pilots' I take it that you mean 'female pilots'. Is that right, Luke?"

Luke blushed even more and didn't answer. "You were about to leave early. Why is that?"

Luke shrugged and said, "I have reports to write and I really only like parties and small doses these days."

Kasan chuckled and said, "I see. Well after this dance, I'll come and help you. Let Wedge enjoy the party with the boys and we can get the reports out of the way."

Luke nodded and the song ended. Quietly, they slipped out and back to his quarters.

 **Updated 12.20.2017**


	5. Chapter 5: Skies of Taloraan

**Aboard the Alliance Star Cruiser** ** _Independence_**

The rumor mill was churning again. The information produced was all over the spectrum - from as serious as an Imperial Moff gathering an Imperial force for a major offensive against the Alliance to as minor as Commander Luke Skywalker being involved with one of his pilots, Lieutenant Kasan Moore. They weren't obvious about it. No one ever saw them sneaking around at late or early hours. They were never caught fooling around in maintenance closets, empty conference rooms or starships or shuttles. They weren't seen together any more frequently than they were with other pilots from Rogue Squadron. However, those who knew them best and were around them enough could sense the sexual and emotional tension.

Luke forked another mouth full of nerf into his mouth with gusto. After chewing and swallowing, he casually mentioned, "So General Rieeken mentioned that we're going to have a block of leave coming up - seventy-two hours of it if I'm not mistaken. I take it since we're currently posted in the Pyrshak System, most of you will be going to Manaan, right?"

They all nodded eagerly and cheered at the same time. Wedge on the other hand hadn't missed Luke's statement. "By the way you say that, I take it that you aren't going to Manaan, Boss."

Luke shrugged as he chewed another mouthful of food before saying, "Well I dunno. I heard that Navlaas was pretty nice too. It's more balanced with larger land masses and yet, still with an ocean. I dunno. Just considering my options."

"Well I'm going to a different system altogether;" said Kasan. "I've been looking around at the other systems."

All ten of the other squadron members looked at Luke, trying to gauge any sort of reaction from him. Luke just nodded in interest and listened as Kasan described several of the planets she had looked in to. Suddenly, Agent Winter Retrac strode up and said, "Commander Skywalker, General Rieeken wants you and your Rogues to meet him in the briefing room in fifteen minutes."

Luke shuvled the rest of his food, chewed, swallowed and stood to his feet. "Finish up, Rogues. Report to the briefing room in ten."

At a quick march, Luke headed towards the turn in line where he deposited his tray and glass. A low murmur came from beside him as he headed towards the door. "So we're going to Navlaas then?"

Luke smiled softly at Kasan and replied in a low voice, "I thought you said that you were going to another system in the sector."

"Well of course I had to say that, Luke. We can't have news spreading around that you and I are taking leave together. That would lead to rumors and those rumors would inevitably lead to the higher ups asking questions. I'd rather not deal with that if I can help it. Anyhow, see you in the briefing room."

Luke grinned and nodded as she gave his arm a squeeze before they parted ways. Luke hustled to his quarters, changing into his orange jumpsuit, flack jacket, life support system, utility belt and service blaster. As usual, he clipped his lightsaber to his belt and tucked his helmet beneath his arm. With that, he was ready and headed out towards the briefing room. Kasan was there and so was Wedge but the rest were still on there way. General Rieeken and Winter were conversing in low voices behind the podium. Luke plopped down between his XO and his secret girlfriend. "Any idea what this is about, Boss?" murmured Wedge. Luke shook his head but, to both their surprise, Kasan whispered, "Taloraan if I'm not mistaken; it's a gas giant where tibanna gas is harvested in massive amounts. Several private organizations as well as a large number of Imperial suppliers have processing and mining facilities there."

Wedge looked at her in mild surpise and asked, "How do you know that?"

"Because I gave him the information for the mission, my dear Captain;" she chuckled. Both Wedge and Luke chuckled, shaking their heads. They really should have known. Slowly, the other Rogues trickled in and when their full roster had arrived, General Rieeken stepped up to the podium. "Good afternoon, Rogue Squadron; I know it's short notice but a mission has just been assigned to you and and the Corellian Corvette _Hapless_ will be accompanying you. There are RZ-1 A-wings being prepared for you. Agent Retrac, give them the particulars of the operations."

The white haired Winter stepped up and began. "There is word of Imperial forces muscling their way in on private companies so that those who supply or manufacture for the Empire can get a monopoly on the planet and Taloraan's supply of tibanna gas."

Winter activated a holo-projector and several ghostly images of the logos of several different companies - Siener Fleet Systems, Kuat Drive Yards, the Corellian Engineering Corporation and several others. "If they have these markings on them, blow the tanks and facilities."

Instantly, Wedge's hand shot up and he was frowning. "Agent Retrac, not all of CEC's gas goes to the Empire. Are we really supposed to blast all of them?"

Winter was stoic as always but there was just a hint of an apologetic note to her voice. "I'm afraid so. Command tried to contact the executives at CEC to try and get an idea of it but they were unable to do so."

Luke was immensely troubled by this. While the CEC didn't produce ships directly for the Rebel Alliance, the fleet certainly used a lot of CEC corvettes, gunships, transports, freighters and so on and it didn't sit well with any of the Rogues. Luke stood and said, "I think it would be best if you handed this mission to another squadron, General Rieeken."

Silence followed and the General cleared his throat before stating, "I know this is troubling, Commander Skywalker but we need to consider the greater good here. I don't think that another squadron could handle this mission. We need you for this."

Luke shifted from one foot to the other but remained silent. Winter cleared her throat and said, "Eliminate all Imperial gun platforms and supplier platforms and then return to the fleet. Make sure that the _Hapless_ makes it back as well. It's main purpose is to draw fire from the emplacement batteries. Are there any questions?"

The pilots were oddly silent. Even Wes Janson and Dak Ralter refrained from flirtatious comments and such which was totally out of character. General Rieeken could see the look in Luke's eyes and said, "Get to your ships, Rogues. Commander Skywalker, can you remain behind for a moment?"

The others filed out and Luke approached the podium. "General, this is a bad idea. We can't just go blowing tibanna gas containers of a sympathetic company because they also happen to be supplying the Empire. That borderlines terrorist activity; I thought that the Rebel Alliance was better than that."

Rieeken sighed and put his hand on Luke's shoulder. "I know, Son, and for the record, I was against the mission being done this way. I wanted the garrison to be the main target and that only those gas containers with Imperial insignia to be targeted. Unfortunately, Admiral Drayson and General Madine were for it. Admiral Ackbar and Mon Mothma couldn't vote one way or the other. General Cracken said that it was the best possible course of action with the intelligence we had. Look, I can't order you against the will of High Command. I can, however, suggest that you target the garrison base as well. I made the same suggestion to Captain Orion aboard _Hapless._ She agrees."

Luke sighed and nodded his had. Rieeken smiled and clapped his shoulder. "Good man. You and your squadron have been doing very well, Luke. There's talk about making you the commander of the _Independence's_ starfighter compliment."

Luke began to shake his head. "I would rather not, Sir. I'm a Rogue. If you want me and Wedge to work with other fighter squadrons, I'm more than happy to but I would rather stay in the Rogues."

Rieeken chuckled and said, "I expected as much. Anyhow, your boys and girl are waiting for you, Commander. Go do great things for the Alliance."

Luke saluted and headed out.

* * *

Wedge and Kasan didn't like it one bit. "I can't do this;" murmured Wedge. Kasan put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Wedge I know this is hard but we have our orders."

"Didn't you leave the Empire because of bogus orders like this? This isn't a rebel mission, it's a terrorist attack. I can't do this."

Before Kasan could reply, Luke came in and called out, "Gather around, Rogues;"

They gathered and, before Luke could say anything, Wedge said firmly, "I can't do this, Luke. We can't attack civilian targets simply because command isn't sure which ones go to the Empire and which ones go elsewhere."

Luke couldn't help but smile and say, "Hold on there, Wedge. Hear me out first. Our primary mission is the gas and gun platforms BUT we are also attacking the Imperial garrison. As far as the containers for CEC, we're going to leave them be completely unless there is an exterior marking showing that are a specifically Imperial. Any questions?"

Kasan looked troubled, "Commander, this goes against our orders."

"But I cannot go against my principles, Kasan. I can't and I can't order that my pilots do either. I'll take the consequences."

That troubled Kasan but she held her peace. Luke cleared his throat and said, "Alright, mount up, Rogues. We have a mission to complete."

* * *

 **Deep Space - Aboard the Star Destroyer** **_Enforcer_**

Moff Kohl Seerdon paced his quarters as the raid of the Kessel prison facilities played over a large holo projector. These Rebel fighter squadrons were not as undisciplined as most Imperial Officers thought but they were very adaptive and the fighter commanders were very unorthodox in their methods. That made them unpredictable. There had to be a way to draw them out. Once again, his mind went back to the fact that Rogue Squadron tended to be a reactive force. Ever since the loss of the Mos Eisely probing force up until the assault on the Jade Moon, all of the engagements involving Rogue Squadron had been reactive. Stroking his smooth chin, Seerdon pulled up a map of the galaxy and contemplated how he could cause something for them to react to. Pulling his comlink from his belt, he keyed the comms station. "This is Moff Seerdon. I need to contact Emperor Palpatine. It's very important."

He stepped over to his personal comms unit and activated it, waiting for the connection to go through. Presently, the hooded face of the Emperor appeared, "Ah, my faithful servant Moff Seerdon; what is the progress of your mission?"

"I am learning much about my opponents, your Majesty. They are disciplined, yet unorthodox. They are unpredictable and that makes them dangerous as I'm sure your majesty is aware. I am requesting special permission to attack an Imperial planet in the hopes of drawing Rogue Squadron out. Considering more than half of their encounters are reactive, I think it's the best way to engage them in a battle of our choosing."

The Emperor considered before nodding. "I will support your actions, Moff Seerdon. Do whatever must be done to bring this Rogue Squadron to heel. When your assault is planned and set, report back to me and I will be sending my Hand out to monitor the situation."

Moff Seerdon had to bite his tongue to keep from protesting. He detested the red headed _child_ that was the Emperor's Hand. Instead, he bowed and said, "As you will, my Emperor."

With that, the connection was cut and Moff Seerdon turned back to his maps, contemplating which planet he should attack.

* * *

 **Taloraan**

Hobbie gave a low whistle and murmured, "Taloraan sure is a beauty."

Wedge grunted, "I'm having trouble with my scanners."

"It's the tibanna gas;" explained Kasan, "Calibrate them to seven-mark-nine."

Luke calibrated his own sensors and they cleared out. Up ahead showed massive clusters of platforms, processing facilities and storage containers. "Maintain visual scanning, Rogues. Keep an eye out for all containers with the designated insignia. Check your fire."

It quickly became clear which containers were Imperial. Every single one of them was black with a white Imperial insignia next to which ever corporation's insignia that was emblazoned on them. Most of the civilian containers were smaller, blue and had various other markings. "Break off into your flight groups, Rogues;" ordered Luke. "Again, watch your fire. Attack only containers with the Imperial markings. Let's make this quick. Rogue's Eight, Nine and Ten, keep an eye for and engage all Imperial fighters that show up on scanners. Call out if there are too many."

It was easy as target practice and one container after the other went off. "Excellent work;" commented Kasan. Luke chuckled and called out, "Rogue Eight, what kind of response are we getting?"

"None yet, Boss; we've only run into a handful of fighter patrols. Their response time seems to be really, REALLY slow."

Luke switched to Kasan's private channel and asked casually, "Are they usually this slow at scrambling defenses, Kasan?"

"This is about average, yes. It's something I strived to be better at when I was in command of 128th. I say we still have at least four minutes before we see any full squadrons responding to us. It may be longer if they're confident that their guns can stop us."

Luke actually laughed. "Oh yeah, because gun emplacements have always been _so_ successful against us."

"They were made to combat older ships like Cloackshape fighters, Z-95s and other Old Republic era fighters. No matter how hard they try, they can't seem to keep up with the starfighters being produced these days."

Right about then, the fore mentioned guns began to fire. Of course, they were targeted and eliminate systematically and thoroughly. "Status update, Rogues; is everyone okay?"

One by one, they called in the same report. No damage, munitions good; none of them had felt the need to use their concussion missiles against static targets that didn't fire back or against the gun emplacements. Thus far, not a single civilian container had been destroyed or even damaged.

* * *

 **Deep Space - Aboard the Star Destroyer** **_Enforcer_**

Moff Seerdon was carefully construction his plan when his comlink chimed. "This if Moff Seerdon;" he said calmly. The captain in command reported, "Sir, we are receiving reports that the Talorran facilities are under attack."

Moff Seerdon refrained from growling in frustration. "Patch them through to my comms unit."

He quickly sat at his console and waited for the connection. As soon as the glowing image of the garrison commander appeared, Moff Seerdon said, "Fire on all civilian containers. I want the rebels to be distracted long enough for your fighters to engage them. Are their any Imperial Star Destroyers in your area?"

"No Sir. The last one just jumped out of the system. There are a handful of Light Cruisers on patrol but nothing more."

"Call them in;" said Moff Seerdon, even though he knew it would be a pointless gesture. If it was Rogue Squadron, no light cruisers were going to stop them. However, if the press could be made to make it seem as though the Rebels were going from armed conflict against the Imperial Military and government to an armed conflict against the people and civilians would put restrictions on where the so-called Rebel Alliance could garner support. It would be easy to twist this with the right holo-cam angles and the correct narrative. Quickly, Moff Seerdon contacted COMPNOR and gave them a hasty report. They were quite pleased to receive it.

* * *

 **Taloraan**

Things turned sideways quick, fast and in a hurry. Suddenly, Imperial guns and fighters turned their fire on civilian containers. "Protect those civilian containers. This is Rogue Leader to the _Hapless_ , I need you to target gun emplacements. Rogues Two, Three, Five, Seven and Twelve, with me. We're going to destroy the hanger, barracks and command structures of the garrison base. The rest, take care of those fighters. We need to protect those civilian containers."

The five fore mentioned Rogues formed on Luke's A-wing and they zipped towards the garrison base. In a volley of concussion missiles, the emplacements and power generators of the garrison base exploded in massive tongues of fire and shrapnel. In a stream of laser fire, the hanger collapsed in flames and the barracks burned to the 'crete. The main command building was tougher than the others and the Rogues expended their remaining concussion missiles to bring it down. Just as it collapsed in fire, Luke's comms unit crackled. "Rogue Leader, we have a quartet of light cruisers dropping out of hyperspace. We need to leave."

Luke growled in frustration. "Get out of here, _Hapless_. We'll finish the Imperial containers and facilities and then be right behind you. Rogue Squadron, eliminate the remaining Imperial gas facilities and containers and then make for orbit."

It galled Luke to leave the civilian companies to the fury of the Empire but there was no way that even Rogue Squadron could take on four Light Cruisers and their fighter compliments. It was minutes before the Imperial containers and facilities were eliminated and minutes more before the Rogues were formed outside of orbit. As they made the jump, Luke had to resist slamming his fist against the control console in frustration. Sure, they had completed the mission but now Taleraan was being sacked by the Empire. He couldn't help but feel guilty. It was Rogue Squadron that had brought this on the planet and all of its inhabitants and the companies that mined the gas there would suffer for it.

* * *

 **Aboard the Alliance Star Cruiser** ** _Independence_**

Luke stood at attention as Alliance High Command stared darkly down at him. Mon Mothma cleared her throat and said, "Commander Skywalker, were the orders given you unclear in any way?"

"No, Ma'am;"

"I see. Were you confused about what was being asked of you?"

"No Ma'am;"

"Explain your actions on the mission to Taloraan for High Command then;"

Luke cleared his throat and asked quietly, "Permission to speak candidly, Madam President?"

"Please;" she replied and Luke took a deep breath before beginning. "Members of Command, my pilots were acting under my orders. I could not, in good conscience, attack the property of civilian corporations simply because we _suspected_ they _might_ be supplying the Imperial war machine. That crosses a line from a rebellious attack against a military and government to a terrorist attack against the citizens. For the record, it's very discouraging to have high command give such orders so flippantly."

The air in the room became chilly and General Rieeken began to massage his temples. "We are going to have to discuss this. There will be disciplinary action leveled against you and quite possibly your pilots. No, don't protest. You've made your opinions and principles very clear. Now we simply need to decide if those principles are in line with what we need for a Commander in the Alliance Military."

Luke felt his stomach flip and his heart began to pound. With a salute, he spun and exited, heading straight for his quarters to change into a set of athletic garments. Taking his lightsaber and the training remote, he went to an empty bay and began to train with his lightsaber. He wished there was a way to practice offensive techniques rather than only defensive maneuvers but he could only work with what he had. He wasn't sure how long he had been working on it when the door to the bay hissed open. In stepped Kasan and Wedge, both looking suitably gloomy; "General Rieeken told me to tell you that, when we found you, you were to be restricted to the ship pending an investigation in your conduct. Oh and by the way, I'm also included in that;" said Wedge. Luke closed down the remote and his lightsaber and sighed. "Kriff, I'm sorry, Wedge. Please tell me I didn't drag you into this, Kasan."

Kasan shook her head with a smirk and said, "Nope, I'm still free to go and so are the rest of the Rogues. I'll be on a sunny beach on Manaan in three days."

Wedge grinned. "That so? One piece or two?"

Kasan's smirk grew and she winked, "Well I guess you're not finding out now, are you?"

Luke chuckled and said, "Well have a good time, Kasan. Wedge, you and I can spend some time in the sims. How does that sound?"

"Not as nice as a beach on Manaan;" muttered the Corellian before grinning and saying, "But you know what? We did the right thing. I'll stand by that 'til the end no matter what this investigation brings out."

Luke nodded firmly.

* * *

There was a strange change in circumstance aboard the cruiser. The investigation was short and, given the circumstances, Wedge was allowed to go on leave but Luke was still restricted to the ship, though he remained the commander of Rogue Squadron. Due to the circumstances of the mission, he was only punished for not eliminating all of the CEC designated containers as ordered. It would have been worse had he not gone above and beyond the call of duty in every other way on the mission. Though he was glad his friend was able to leave, Luke found himself depressed that he would be on the ship alone. After eating dinner the day that his squadron mates had left, Luke went to the empty bay for some more practice, only to find a surprise waiting for him. A pair of cots had been tied together with bedrolls and blankets laid thick on it. The heat in the bay had also been turned up and on the blanket under a powerful UV lamp lay Kasan Moor as if she was sunning herself. Luke gulped and said just audibly, "So you're a two piece kind of girl, huh?"

Kasan smiled and said, "Yes I am. Does that surprise you?"

"A little; I thought you were headed to Manaan."

Kasan smiled and motioned him over. "What, and leave my secret boyfriend alone on this ship? I don't think so. Come over here. Strip down and grab some rays. It's not like an actual sun but it's better than nothing."

Luke grinned and hurried over, shedding his shirt, shoes and the pants he wore outside of his running shorts. As soon as he plopped down, Kasan rolled to him, throwing one of her long, smooth legs over him and purring, "Alone at last; I've been waiting for this for awhile."

Luke wanted to say that he had too but her lips prevented that.

 **Updated 12.20.2017**


	6. Chapter 6: Rescue on Fest

**Aboard the Alliance Star Cruiser** ** _Independence_**

The Squadron had only just gotten back from their leave before they were gathered into the briefing room, some still wearing shirts and hats purchased from Manaan or whatever planet they had visited. General Madine looked troubled as Luke and Kasan hurried in last, wearing their regular military fatigues. No one had time to ask what they had been doing during the leave period before General Madine began quickly. "During your leave after the Taloraan operation, a group of Imperial scientists fled their research facility on Fest, using captured AT-PT's to escape into the mountains. From what we understand, they have important information for us that could be critical for future Alliance Operations. You will be sent with the corvette _Hapless_ who will be there to pick up the scientists. Your mission will be to make sure that they make it to the landing zone alive. Your ships will be T-47 Airspeeders. Any questions?"

There were no questions but Wedge was heard muttering, "Man! This is like Ralltiir all over again!"

Other than murmurs of agreement, no one else had anything to say and they were dismissed to prepare. As soon as they were out, Winter Retrac called to them from down the hall, "Keep an eye on Commander Skywalker. No doubt he'll try to pull some ridiculous heroic act during the mission."

That earned several snorts and laughs from the pilots as they rushed off to get dressed and equipped for the mission.

* * *

 **Fest - Imperial Research Planet**

As soon as they dropped from the _Haples_ s, Rogue Squadron discovered that the T-47's did not handle cold weather very well. The good news was that the mission took place along the equator and it was just warm enough that the speeders didn't stall out. However, they were sluggish and much harder to maneuver and the sensors were barely able to read. "Report in;" said Luke nervously. In quick succession, the pilots replied, "Rogue Three, standing by."

"Rogue Seven, standing by;"

"Rogue Eight, standing by;"

"Rogue Nine, standing by;"

"Rogue Ten, Standing by;"

The comms were scratchy too and Luke sighed. "Alright, Rogue Squadron, increase your visual scanning because our scanners aren't doing much good. We're looking for three AT-PT's roaming the passes and valleys of the mountains but get ready; the Imperials have gates installed throughout the passes. Our main mission will be to rescue those scientists but, if we have time, destroying part of the research facility would be a plus as well."

They all complied and kept their eyes peeled. The good news was that, do to the snow, making out three AT-PT's wouldn't be hard. The bad news was that the Imperials were looking too. AT-AT's, Droid Tanks, TIE Bombers and TIE Strikers were everywhere, trying to find the missing AT-PT's. Luke sighed and stretched out with the force, hoping that it would help him as it had in the past.

"Rogue Leader, this is Rogue Three, we've spotted a trio of AT-PT's and they're being pursued by an AT-AT walker along with a trio of XR-85 Tank Droids."

"Rogues Seven, Eight and Nine, blow up that gate two klicks ahead. Everyone else, with me. We're going after the walker and those Tank Droids."

After receiving confirmation, he told the _Hapless_ to find somewhere for a pick-up sight. Unfortunately, the corvette was forced to completely clear an Imperial landing zone in a canyon a tidy distance away. After the communication ended, Luke cursed under his breath before blowing a tank droid to smithereens. He had to stop himself from asking the cursed question 'could this mission get any worse', knowing that, as soon as he asked the question out loud, it would get worse.

In a gorge, Luke noticed a power generator. "Rogue Three, this is Rogue Leader, take Rogue Seven and target that power generator. Maybe we'll get lucking and it will open the gate in our path."

"Copy that, Rogue Leader;"

Luke brought his air speeder about and targeted a trio of TIE Strikers. The TIE's were much better suited to this environment but Luke still managed to take them out. For whatever reason, whoever was in charge of the base's defenses was sending his forces specifically after the AT-PT's to the exclusion of everything else, including the attacking Rebel air speeders. Suddenly, his weak scanners still managed to pick up a pair of large explosions. The first and larger of the two were the power generator and the second of the two was the gate. As fast as they could, the AT-PT's clopped towards the gate. "Rogue Leader, the gate is down. I repeat the gate is down;" announced Wedge. Luke grinned and said, "Alright Rogues, lets make sure they get to the landing zone intact."

Suddenly, the AT-AT's laser cannons flashed, narrowly missing vaporizing one of the one-man walkers. "Draw their fire!" hissed Luke, wheeling his own air speeder around and opening fire on the pilot station, or 'head' of the AT-AT. The armor, as they already knew, was too strong for the air speeder's laser cannons. Desperately, he wheeled about and opened up and the side of the cliffs on either side of the walker, hoping to start a rock slide or avalanche or something that would at least slow up the walker. Rocks, snow and ice did fall from the cliffs to either side but it wasn't even close to enough to stop or slow the AT-AT. "We have got to do something about this walker;" he muttered into the comms unit. None of Rogue Squadron pilots could come up with anything until Luke remembered the mission to Corellia. He and Dak had successfully strung up an AT-AT using the tow cable. However, the canyon walls were pretty narrow. But it was their only option. "Alright, Dak; remember Corellia?"

"Um... yeah but Boss, these canyon walls are pretty narrow. You sure we can do this?"

Luke chuckled nervously and said, "Yeah, sure; we'll just take it slow. Get ready with that harpoon launcher."

Luke was tilted almost sideways as he cut the accelerator, slowing down significantly. "Fire harpoon!"

It was a hell of a shot and Luke turned sharply, missing scraping the bottom of his speeder by less than a meter. Taking a deep breath, Luke fell into the force. When it came to piloting, he was getting very in tune with it, letting him know when he needed to act and, in many cases, specifically what he needed to do. "Luke, we're running out of line;" Dak suddenly said anxiously. When he was facing the front again, Luke said, "Cable out, let her go!"

With a small jolt and a quiet 'thump' the cable detached. Just as before, the walker tried to continue forward and only succeeded at falling on its face. "Rogue Leader, we have another AT-AT and a swarm of those stupid tank droids between the AT-PT's and the landing zone;" called Rogue Seven, Kasan, over the comms. Luke thought fast. "Wedge, go after the other AT-AT. Rogue's Seven and Eight, clear out the tank droids. The rest of you, make sure that TIE Strikers and bombers don't get anywhere near those AT-PT's!"

Luke joined the second group, immediately blowing a quartet of TIE bombers out of the sky. They just kept coming, though, and those tank droids were faster than the AT-PT's. Taking a calculated risk, Luke called out, "Rogues Three and Seven, form on me. Rogues Eight, Nine and Ten, stay with the AT-PT's and keep all Imperials off of them. We're going after the research facility. With any luck, we'll get them to divide their forces."

After he managed to tie up the AT-AT, Wedge formed on him and Kasan as they buzzed towards the research facility. It was spread out due to the rugged terrain - barracks in this valley, hanger dug into that peak and the facility itself in another valley. Luke ignored the barracks and hanger, going straight for the facility. Drawing on the force, he targeting a series of antennae that crowned the structure. Of course, they were vaporized, eliminating sensor and communication capabilities. Over the comms, Kasan advised, "The power core for a facility like that is under ground so there's no getting to it. Unfortunately, there isn't any getting to the waste dump either. It's usually lifted out by bulk cargo freighters. We're just going to have to shoot at it until it collapses."

"Great;" muttered Luke. They swooped in and opened up, starting with the command center of the facility, reducing it to a smoking gouge in the building before blazing away at anything and everything else that looked softer than the durasteel exterior. Luke lost track of how long he and his companions blazed away at the facility but it must have been awhile. Zev suddenly said, "We've done it! The AT-PT's have reach the landing zone. Repeat! The AT-PT's have reached the landing zone!"

Luke grinned and said, "Alright, Rogues, let's get back to the _Hapless_. We're getting out of here."

They were able to quickly and safely dock. The captain called Luke and his pilots and gunners to the bridge. "What's wrong, Captain?" asked Luke. The Captain smiled and said, "Nothing. I just thought you'd like to see this."

Out the viewport, they watched as the _Hapless_ opened fire with its turbolasers, shredding the research facility, the barracks and the hanger. The Rogues cheered. The mission was a complete success. In the corvette's lounge area, Luke looked at his pilots and asked, "Hey, I never asked how your leave was."

They all waxed eloquent on what they had been able to do on Manaan - beaches, resorts, women - the works. Dak was especially vocal about a female Twi'lek with deep red skin. After letting him go on for at least twenty minutes, Wedge shut him up and looked at Luke. "What about you, Boss? I know you didn't get to go anywhere but you're time wasn't too terrible was it."

Luke had gotten good at control his blushes. With a dramatic sigh, he said, "Oh it wasn't so bad. Had some fun at the blaster range, practiced with my lightsaber and did some simulation work too. It wasn't fantastic but it also wasn't terrible."

They all nodded sympathetically, including Kasan. When they got back to the _Independence,_ she caught him outside his quarters and teased, "'Oh it wasn't fantastic but it also wasn't terrible' huh?"

Luke grinned and said, "Well I wasn't exactly going to tell them the truth, Kasan."

They both laughed before disappearing into his quarters.

* * *

 **Deep Space - Aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer _Enforcer_**

Moff Kohl Seerdon looked at the recent report from Fest. Another Imperial facility destroyed and yet more defectors scooped by a quick Rebel strike force. It was Rogue Squadron again. It was ALWAYS Rogue Squadron. Moff Seerdon was done with this upstart Rebel fighter group. Going to his comms unit, he activated it. "Admiral, set course of Chandrilla. We are going to blockade the planet and harass the planet until the Rebel Alliance sends a fleet to stop us."

Of course, they wouldn't send a fleet. If Moff Seerdon attacked one city, they would do their best to protect and evacuate that one city. It was the perfect trap. He would launch a full scale assault as soon as Rogue Squadron entered the system and then he would crush them.

Moff Seerdon smiled at the plan. This victory would finally elevate him to the feared rank of Grand Moff. All his hard work would pay off.

 **Updated 12.20.2017**


	7. Chapter 7: Trap on Chandrilla

**The _Independence_ \- Orbit of Chandrilla**

The _Independence_ dropped out of hyperspace and Rogue Squadron immediately launched. Luke was furious. An Imperial Moff would attack a loyal Imperial city just to draw them out. Fine! Here they were and he was going to wish he had made a wiser decision. "Alright, Rogues, we're heading down to the planet below while the _Independence_ engages the fleet and waits with evac ships. This Imperial wants us here and we're here so lets show him his mistake."

All the affirmatives came in and twelve rebel X-wings dove into orbit. The first thing they sighted was a passenger hover train coming from somewhere and heading towards the capital city. TIE Fighters and Bombers were closing in on it. "Alright, Rogues, you know what to do. We'll escort that train to the city and then clear the skies above so that our evac transports can get in."

It wasn't extremely difficult for the Rogues to mop up the fighters. Things got interesting when TIE Interceptors and TIE Strikers screamed in. Both were faster and the Strikers were far better suited to atmospheric dog fighting. But the Rogues' greater skill quickly proved to be more than a match. They broke into pairs and circled, cleaning the enemy off one another with ease in a way that standard Imperial pilots couldn't keep up with. Dak whooped as he vaped another enemy fighter. Suddenly, the waves of fighters stopped and the hovertrain was docked without molestation. Suddenly, over all main com frequencies, a voice was heard. "Rebel scum, this is Moff Seerdon; your resistance is useless. As you can see, I have blockaded the city and Chandrilla is now mine. You will surrender or I will shoot you all down."

"Moff Seerdon?" said Wedge and Kasan snarled. "Bastard! He's attacking the planet that spawned him!"

Luke checked his scanners and found that the Imperials had set up emplacements around the cities with scout walkers, advanced raiders and tank droids. Suddenly, there was a flash and the hover train track collapsed. To there horror, flights of TIE Fighters and Bombers descended on the city and began dropping proton bombs. "Rogues, bring those bombers down! Kasan, Wedge - we'll stop the fighters. Hurry up!"

One bomber after another exploded and Luke, Wedge and Kasan managed to keep the fighters off their backs. Suddenly, scout walkers and advanced raiders began firing on the city. Luke keyed in the _Independence_ and said, "We need support, Captain and we need it now! The Imperials are bombing and shelling the city! Woah!"

Suddenly, forty-eight TIE Strikers descended, targeting the Rogues. "Rogues, break off and clean each other up! The trap's been sprung!"

They were hard pressed and the only thing that kept them alive and in one piece was their highly unorthodox tactics. Even so, they were close to being overwhelmed when a flight of A-wings streaked through, blasting the TIE's and turning the tide of the fight. "That's all we can do for you, Rogues;" said the commander of the A-wing Squadron. "Good luck."

Luke replied breathlessly, "That's fine, Commander; thanks for the assist. Get back up there and give them hell!"

Most TIE's were focusing on them but, given that they were not the TIE Strikers, which were built for fighting in atmospheric combat, the Rogues easily kept up with them. Suddenly, out of the clouds came a flight of Y-wings, dropping streams of proton bombs along the emplacements around the city. Three sides of the city were cleared and just then, Alliance transports dropped down, ready to pick up refugees from the capital city. With them were U-wing support craft, captured Lambda and Sentinel shuttles and even some old, retrofitted LAAT and MAAT gunships dropped onto the roofs of buildings that were stable enough and those inside began to stream from the buildings and jump into the waiting ships. From the ground levels of the city, people streamed towards the transport ships. Many of the Alliance personnel were surprised when Imperial officers and stormtroopers wanted to board the ships as well. They were disarmed and captured for later interrogation.

Luke blazed through another trio of bombers, keeping half an eye on the transports. A couple were taking heavy fire from walkers and advanced raiders. Quickly, he turned and streaked towards them, launching proton torpedoes at them. The high explosives took out the walkers and large areas of land around them. As he swept back to the dog fight, General Rieeken announced over their comes, "All transports, shuttles and gunships are full and we have gotten everyone out of the city. We also have the _Liberty_ inbound and we can hopefully assist in destroying the ships in atmosphere. Rogues, we need you to keep fighters off the transports and such."

"Acknowledged, General;" replied Luke as the Rogues formed on him. For the most part, the enemy fighters were engaged in the battle above or destroyed. Kasan commed over the squadron channel. "That's my old home, the _Enforcer_. It's Moff Kohl Seerdon's flagship."

Luke felt his jaw clench. "I take it that Moff Seerdon is the kath hound that the Emperor sent to hunt us down then."

"Affirmative;" said Kasan. Wedge commed over, "Well it sounds like we should make him a priority target."

Luke agreed. Suddenly, TIE's screamed back in, targeting both the transports and the city. "Ignore the TIE's heading towards the city. We need to protect those transports."

It became hot and fast again as the Rogues chased after one TIE after another, blowing them out of the sky. The gunships and dropships and the like jump in, using their own on board weapons to defend the transport. The U-wings were especially helpful. They were fast and had port and starboard mounted E-web repeating blaster cannons aside from their forward facing cannons. It only got worse when they broke atmosphere. Star Destroyers and their escorts bore down, not on any of the evac transports, but on Rogue Squadron itself. "Woah!" cried Wedge. Luke cursed as he twisted and spiraled, avoiding screens of turbo laser fire. "As soon as the transports and ships are clear, we're diving to the planet below and taking cover. Hang in there Rogues!"

* * *

Moff Seerdon watched the battle and felt that victory was just within his grasp. "My Lord, what about the fleeing ships? In the event that Rogue Squadron escapes, would it not be best if we had something to show for it?"

The Moff shook his head resolutely. "My mission is the elimination of Rogue Squadron to the exclusion of all others. If we succeed quickly enough, we will be able to stop the transports as well and perhaps even eliminate the rebel task force."

The ship's captain did not question his superior. They watched as the X-wings evaded the TIE's again and again, sometimes narrowly. Suddenly, a sensor array officer called out, "Sir, the transports are jumping to hyperspace."

"Irrelevant! Keep after those fighters!" snapped Seerdon. When the last transport had jumped, the rebel task force began to move in on them. With a snarl, he said, "I will be suiting up and taking a fighter myself. The bridge is yours, Captain."

* * *

"I say again, _Independence_ , get back to the rendezvous point! We'll keep them here while you get the refugees to safety."

Luke held his breath as he waited for the response. It seemed like a long pause before General Rieeken replied with obvious dislike. "That's an affirmative, Rogue Leader. You get your ass under cover and you wait for an extraction, do you understand me? Confirm my command!"

"Confirmed, Rogue Leader out."

That done, Luke switched to the frequency of his squadron. "Rogue Squadron, dive for the planet and make for he canyons, quickly."

"Luke, why are we going to the planet instead of into space?"

"We're pinned against the planet. If we tried, we wouldn't make it through the turbo laser screen or the pursuing fighters. Dive, Rogue Squadron - dive!"

The twelve fighters dove through atmosphere and zipped towards the canyons. "Rogue Leader, where are we going?"

Luke ignored Wedge's question. Something was calling him deep into the canyons. He didn't know how he knew it but it was the will of the force. Suddenly, turbo laser blasts rained from around them. The Star Destroyers were willing to level the planet. "Luke!" snapped his executive officer. Suddenly, a cavern large enough to fit four dreadnoughts side by side opened before them. "There!" said Luke. The X-wings dropped. A few hundred meters down, a cave mouth the size of a hanger bay door opened and they flew in. As soon as his X-wing was firmly on the stone floor, Luke breathed again. They were safe for the moment. The turbo laser fire from a fleet of Star Destroyers would still take days to get as deep as they were.

A rock smacked against his canopy. Wedge, Tycho and Dak were looking at him and the first mention lifted his arms as if to say, 'what are you doing?'

With a sigh, Luke said, "Artoo, check the ship for damage. I'll be back eventually."

Quickly, he popped the canopy and dropped to the floor. Suddenly, his head began to spin and Luke had to bend over as his stomach began to do barrel rolls. "Luke, what the hell happened? What are we doing here?" demanded Wedge. Luke managed to straighten and took a deep breath. "We had to keep their attention on us, Wedge."

"But why are we pinning ourselves in the depths of an Imperial planet? They'll be sending search parties after us, Luke! We're as good as dead down here."

"Give him a break, Wedge!" snapped Dak defensively. "What would you have done in this situation?"

"It doesn't matter what I would have done! I'm not our squadron commander, Dak. Luke is."

"Enough." said Luke, loudly but calmly. All of his pilots had gathered accept one. Where was Kasan? Looking around, he saw that she was still sitting in the cockpit of her fighter. "Have your astro units run diagnostics on your fighters and then circle up. We need to figure something out."

Wedge scowled but obeyed his orders. Having already ordered Artoo to do so, Luke jogged over to Kasan's fighter. At first, he contemplated throwing a rock at it like one of his other pilots had done to him. Instead, he knocked on the outside of the haul with one. After a moment, Kasan's canopy opened and her ladder dropped. "Hey, have your droid run diag on your fighter."

"Already did that;" she said. Immediately, Luke could tell something was wrong. Her eyes were puffy and red and she was dashing tears from her eyes as she turned to face him. Luke wanted to comfort her but Kasan would not be appreciative of displays of affection at that moment. "You okay?" he asked. She sighed and said, "It just reminded me of Alderaan. The Empire is willing to do anything to beat the people of the galaxy down and intimidate them into submission. It... it just hit really close to home, that's all."

"I'm sorry;" Luke murmured and patted her shoulder. Kasan offered a brave smile and said quietly, "It's not your fault, Darling. It's the reason I fight."

Luke smiled and then said playfully, "Well suck it up, pilot. We need to gather and figure out this situation."

"Yes sir." she replied with mock enthusiasm. Wedge was still pissed as they all gathered. So was Hobbie and Wes but the rest seemed to just want to know what to do. Wedge crossed his arms and demanded, "So what now?"

Luke took a deep breath and said, "We'll set up camp and explore. General Rieeken said that he would send an extraction and that we needed to be ready to go. Check your weapons too. We need to be ready to retreat into the caves and to make a fight of it."

After he had stopped and no one moved, Wedge snapped, "That's it?"

Luke glared at him. "Pilots, you have your orders. Move on them. Captain Antilles, with me."

Wedge's scowl deepened. When they were a distance from the other pilots, Wedge snapped. "Don't give me that 'Captain Antilles' shavit, Luke! You and I started this squadron together, you and me! I deserve more respect than that and you know it! I want to know why the hell you pulled us into this death trap."

Luke was almost tempted to punch him but instead, clasped his hands behind his back and replied calmly. "We need to maintain some modicum of discipline and, far more importantly, unity, Wedge. We're all scared and to see you and me at one another is only going to make things much worse. There are several reasons why I decided this. One, we needed to buy time and let the transports escape. Two, if we keep them here, maybe the Alliance can take out Moff Seerdon before he tries to pull this shavit again. Three, it would take days if not weeks for turbo laser fire to go this deep. Four and last..." and he paused for a moment before sighing and saying, "I felt the call of the force, Wedge."

His best friend and executive officer studied him quietly before deflating and saying, "Okay, okay, I can understand all that and I am sorry for calling you out in front of everyone. It was completely inappropriate. Look, why don't you take Kasan and explore. Dak and I will get your gear set and I'll set up a watch system."

Luke chuckled and said, "I would appreciate that, Wedge."

The other Rogues were working industrially, setting up bedrolls, hooking up lights and power cords to their ships and passing out rations to eat. Wedge called out, "Hey Tycho, when your done, finish rolling out Kasan's stuff. Commander's taking her to explore the caves. I think a walk would do them both some good."

Kasan was going to object but they all ushered the two of them deeper into the cavern.

* * *

At first they held up their glow rods and walked silently, side by side. But then, Luke found Kasan's hand and took it, squeezing it comfortingly. They still said nothing as they continued. The tunnel still went straight through without branching off on either side. As they went, an eerie blue light began to glow ahead of them. Luke released Kasan's hand and went for his blaster. Kasan followed his example and, weapons in hand, they advanced. The site before them caused them both to gape, slack-jawed and slack-limbed. A vast catacomb opened before them and everywhere, glowing blue and green crystals sat in sconces and lit up the catacombs. Luke could feel the force all around him. "Luke, what is this place?"

"I have no clue but if I were to guess, I would say that this is an ancient burial ground of some kind. Come on."

Kasan was hesitant. "Wait, Luke, should we really... I mean this place is creepy."

Luke considered. The force called him forward and he needed to comply with that call. After moment, he smiled at her and said, "If you want to go back, I understand that but I need to move forward. Something... the force is calling me to somewhere and I need to go. It's important, I can just feel it."

Kasan sighed. Sometimes, her boyfriend's Jedi aspirations confounded and exasperated her. Even so, she supported him wholeheartedly. Leaning forward, she kissed his lips gently and said, "I'll head back then. Be careful and keep your short range comlink open. We can only hope that they work this deep."

"Have Wedge use the droids and X-wings to set up a comms relay. That should help. If I'm not back in four hours, send a couple of you after me."

Kasan nodded and turned back. Before she was out of sight of her boyfriend, she turned and saw him holster his blaster and pull his lightsaber hilt, igniting the blade. He cut quite the heroic figure standing there.

Luke noticed that his blade was the same color as some of the blue crystals around him. "Okay, where should I be going?" he murmured. In answer, the force tugged him along a wide ledge and across a stone bridge. All around him, the force hummed and flowed and, like a river, seemed to sweep him towards one point. He was directed down an inclining ledge and across another bridge before finding himself at the foot of a stone stair, ancient and obviously carved by skilled artisans. Cautiously, he climbed the stairs and looked down a vast hallway that was carved with ancient designs and glyphs. The force directed him to the end of the hall. Wide eyed and bewildered, Luke looked at the carved glyphs and pictures, understanding very little of what he saw. The easily understood were pictures that told stories. A Jedi Master facing down other lightsaber wielding enemies, using his powers to heal and shield others from the dark side.

When he finally made it to the sarcophagus, the force swirled into a cyclone and a deep, melodious voice emanated from the very air. "It has been over three thousand years sense any has visited my tomb. The living force has kept me here, waiting for a young Jedi in need of wisdom."

In a shimmering blue light, the aberration of a tall man in brown robes. His hair was slightly shaggy, his face covered in stubble. Luke closed down his weapon and asked in awe, "Who are you, Master?"

"My name does not matter, my young Jedi. Long ago, I was called the great healer, Paladin of house Organa of Alderaan, Rider of the Maelstrom. The title I was most famous for was the Barsen'thor, Warden of the Jedi Order."

Luke nodded and said, "But what wisdom can you give me? I have no master anymore and I don't know where to get instruction in the ways of the force. What can I do?"

The spirit smiled kindly and said, "There are always outlets to receive wisdom and training, even without a tradition, constant instructor. Remember that, young Jedi. What would you ask of me?"

Luke launched into dozens of questions, asking about the force in general, how to become stronger and to avoid the dark side. He asked questions for nearly an hour and a half until he couldn't think of another one and received the wisdom of the Barsen'thor. "I don't have any more questions, Master."

"Meditate on the answers and you may find that they are different for you than those that I gave you, young Jedi. Now, let me see your skills with your Jedi weapon."

The aberration waved his hand and another aberration appeared. He wore black armor that reminded Luke of Darth Vader, though it was quite different. With a _snap-hiss_ , the warrior ignited a red lightsaber. Luke took a deep breath and readied his weapon, trusting the long-dead Jedi Master not to kill him with a force illusion. His opponent engaged with great ferocity but Luke kept up with his assault with only a little difficulty. "Your defenses are solid. You have clearly been training but is it your intent to stay on the defensive? You do not seem the type to utilize Soruso, the third form of lightsaber combat."

"I don't prefer defensive but I have the most practice at it, using a remote to practice blocking stun bolts;" replied Luke as he clumsily counter attacked when noticing an opening in his opponent's defenses. Though clumsy, it was effect and the dark side warrior disappeared. "I see. Then allow me to give you some drills to practice, young Jedi."

* * *

Moff Seerdon screamed over the service of Chandrilla in a TIE Advanced, flanked on each side by two wingmen. He hated TIE fighters. They were jerky, they were noisy and they were fragile, even the more advanced models. As soon as he got back, he was jumping into the simulators for a gunboat. "Are our scouts picking up anything?" he asked. The squadrons' commanders answered in the negative. "We're heading back to the destroyer."

As soon as he was out of atmosphere, the ships Captain hailed his fighter. "Moff Seerdon, the Emperor's Hand is aboard, waiting to meet with you."

A cold clenching filled his gut. "Tell her that I shall be with her forthwith."

As soon as his fighter was on its hanger rack, Seerdon descended the lift, only to find the Emperor's Hand waiting for him. As beautiful as ever, she strode up to him. "The Emperor demands a progress report, Moff Seerdon. Since he received word of your blockade of Chandrilla, he has been waiting and is displeased that you have chosen to wait so long."

Moff Seerdon gave her a respectful nod and a confident smile. "We have Rogue Squadron trapped within the planetary crust. If they so much as show their heads, we'll blast them to atoms. If we find where they're hiding, we'll hunt them down and kill them - or perhaps capture and publicly try and execute them."

The Emperor's Hand's emerald eyes narrowed. "You seem confident but I would accelerate and plans that you have, Moff Seerdon. Our Emperor is getting tired of sending me to run errands but feels the need to in order to emphasize the importance of your mission's success."

Moff Seerdon nodded in understanding. "The point is well taken, Emperor's Hand. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to bathe and change back into proper uniform. Is there anything that I can do for you?"

"Yes; finish this mission so that I can get off your ship and not have to return."

The cold voice left no compunctions in the Moff's mind about where they stood. It was abundantly clear that she despised him and wanted nothing more to do with him. It was sad because she was quite beautiful and his affair with her hand been quite enjoyable to say the least. She turned on her heel and said, as she walked away, "I will be utilizing my ship as quarters. If you have anything to report, come and find me there."

She strode up the ramps of a freighter of some kind and the ramp closed behind her.

* * *

When Luke finally returned, he looked exhausted, sweaty and stressed but also pleased with himself. Wedge chuckled and said, "Well you look like you found something interesting. Spill it, Boss."

"These catacombs have numerous ways out of them, not just the one we came in. I was exploring and found a map. On the wall. After some sleep, I'll take Artoo to scan it and we can make a solid plan to get out of here."

The Rogues, who were already in better spirits than when they had arrived, cheered and slapped their leader on the back. Luke didn't tell them about what else he had learned in the cave, resolving to tell Wedge and Kasan about it more privately.

The night was passed with the Rogues taking hour long shifts at watch. It wasn't really necessary since all their droids were on alert but it always paid to be cautious. They all woke feeling much better but wishing for a wash. Immediately after breakfast, Luke, Wedge and Tycho lead their droids to where he had found the map on the wall and they scanned the engraving. When they were finished, it was displayed as a three dimensional model. The Rogues gathered around and said, "Alright, we're dividing into flight groups of three and each taking different ways out. Our goal is to make it out of the planet's gravity well and make jumps to pre-arranged points. It want it to take no fewer than eight hours for us to return to the fleet so that we won't be followed. Any questions?"

Kasan lifted a hand. "Yeah, aren't we supposed to be waiting for General Rieeken's orders?"

Luke sighed. "I don't think we can. If he isn't able to get to us, it's only a matter of time before we're located and capture or killed. Any others?"

They all shook their heads and Luke clapped his hands. "Right, let's pack up and get ready."

* * *

Moff Seerdon had gotten a few hours of sleep, eaten a light meal and spent a few hours in the simulators. X1g Assault gunboat was a fine combat fighter. It could carry a massive payload of ordinance and had heavy shields. The only thing was that it tended to be slow. That didn't bother Moff Seerdon because, no matter how good your were or how fast your ship was, it couldn't out distance a heat seeking anti-fighter rocket.

He had woken up and went straight to the hanger and took off. Four TIE Interceptors escorted him as he cruised over the planets services, keeping up his visual and electronic scanning. "Sir, we have fighters breaking from four separate locations across the planet. Their making for atmosphere."

"Send me the trajectory of the nearest group."

While her waited, he began scanning comm frequencies. With a smile, he listened in on the nearest group of rebel pilot's conversation.

* * *

As they accelerated and climbed, Kasan suddenly commed, "Luke, I lost my stabilizer."

"It's alright, just have your R2 unit lock it back down."

"I copy."

Suddenly, a voice that Luke did not recognize but Kasan did all too well came over their frequency. "Kasan Moore? Ah! But of course."

The Rogues were silent until Kasan growled, "Moff Seerdon."

The Moff sneered. "How pathetic, allying yourself with those Rebel criminals, Rogue Squadron. You and your so-called Rogues absconded of my AT-PT's and assisted in the plundering of my research facilities. My retaliation shall be swift and just."

"There is nothing just about your actions!" Kasan retorted harshly. The Moff gave what sounded like a depressed sigh. "Do you no longer harbor any loyalty to our Emperor? Defecting to these Rebel terrorists will be your undoing, Kasan. Unfortunate to lose such a fine officer but the weak will die off to make way for the strong. It is the way of the universe."

Suddenly, they saw him approaching in the distance. "There you are you coward!" snapped Kasan and she angled to face him. "Kasan do not engage that ship. I repeat, do not engage that ship. We don't know how many enemies are in the area and we need to make it of Chandrilla."

For a dozen heartbeats, it seemed like she would ignore Luke but then, to his relief, she turned around and caught back up. "I copy." she said bitterly and they streaked towards open space.

* * *

Generals Rieeken and Madine were livid as they were in holo-conference with the rest of high command. Slamming his fist against the table, General Madine all but yelled, "I am going to get my pilots back if I have to march on the bridge and put a blaster to the captain's head. Our best fighter pilots are along on an occupied world blockaded by Imperials and so help me I..." an aide interrupted him, bursting into a room with a huge grin and declaring for all to hear, "Rogue Squadron just dropped out of hyperspace, Generals!"

The relief was palpable and Rieeken said, "Well that settles that. Is there anything else, Councilors?"

As there was not, the conference was terminated and both generals ran as fast as they could to the hanger. There stood their boys and girl, climbing out of their battered ships and looking dirty, tired and absolutely beautiful. The generals strode up and began shaking hands, slapping backs and congratulating them.

 **Updated 12.20.2017**


	8. Chapter 8: Raid on Sullust

**Aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer** ** _Enforcer_**

Moff Kohl Seerdon carefully looked over the plan he had been constructing over the past couple days. From Chandrilla, he had fled to the outer edge of the Deep Core in order avoid detection, not from the Alliance but from his fellow Imperials. If he were to be found by the Emperor's Hand or, cosmos forbid, Darth Vader, his life would most likely be over. So, in order to bring himself back into favor with the Emperor, he had carefully constructed the end of his campaign. First, he needed to find a way to ensure that the Rebel Alliance was distracted. That wasn't that hard. On Sullust at a secret facility was an energy collector and capacitor facility. It used geothermal energy to power an energy shield.

The whole thing was widely experimental, testing ways to use extreme environments to power military facilities. After proving to only be so effective and only put out a small amount of power per geothermal collector/transmitter. They had to place a dozen of the expensive things around just to power the shield and the base. The Emperor had quickly lost interest when he had heard that it would only break even as far as expenses and was very impractical.

Seerdon had a friend fairly high up in Imperial Intelligence and paid him to leak information to the Bothan spy net about the Capacitor base on Sullust. While Rogue Squadron was sent to Sullust and, from what Seerdon had heard, other Rebel task forces were sending ships and supplies to a 'secret' Rebel Base on Hoth, Moff Seerdon would take his fleet to Thyferra to take over the galaxy's bacta production.

At first, Moff Seerdon had thought that the mission was going to be tricky. During the rise of the Empire, the Vratix on Thyferra had made it clear that they would destroy all of their facilities if the Empire invaded and would go underground, sealing themselves in. After some strenuous negotiations, the Vratix allowed for a single scout walker armored unit and a battalion of Imperial Army soldiers to protect the spaceports that shipped the shipments of bacta purchased by the Empire and Imperial affiliated or subsidized organizations.

Completely out of curiosity, Moff Seerdon had hired a number of fringers to check out the facilities on Thyferra. True to their promise, the Vratix had set high yield explosives all over their facilities. However, each facility only had one trigger mechanism for all the explosives within the facility. It was a simple matter to have highly trained special forces saboteurs to cut the facilities. Those operatives were still there now, waiting for him to arrive. All Moff Seerdon needed was to receive the report of Sullust being attack and then, he would jump to Thyferra and take the facilities for the Empire. Undoubtedly, Rogue Squadron would jump straight their when they heard and on that world, Moff Seerdon would destroy them and take the entire bacta production. If that did not bring him into favor with the Emperor then nothing would.

* * *

 **Aboard the Alliance Cruiser _Independence_**

Kasan Moor did not participant in a lot of the squadron's training events and even missed out on a few of the less critical missions. While some of the newest squadron members were a little miffed that she 'got to miss training and missions' but those who were closer to Luke and Wedge understood the situation. Kasan was meeting with the local members of High Command, giving them target suggestions and information. The meetings would sometimes take hours and Kasan would come out, her emotions running the spectrum from highly irritated and frustrated with the lack of action to excited that a mission may finally be coming up. The whole squadron felt it too. That's why, when Kasan came pelting into the simulation bay with a huge grin on their face. "We have a mission! Briefing room, just off the docking bay right now!"

With a cheer, the Rogues helped each other out of the simulators and followed her into the briefing room where General Rieeken and Agent Retrac waited for them, their faces grim with righteous anger and satisfaction. When the pilots were all seated, General Rieeken cleared his throat and began. "The mission you have been waiting for is here, Rogues. You will be attacking an Imperial experimental facility in one of the volcanoes on Sullust. Your mission is to take it out. You'll be flying X-wings and one-man Y-wings, six and six. Agent Retrac will give you the details."

Winter used a datapad to activate a holo projector. It showed the volcano plus the entire facility. It was a fortress with turbo laser cannons and seeker missile turrets, scout walker and advanced raider units and, of course, TIE Interceptor squadrons. "Your first targets will be these here;" and she indicated what looked to be eighteen small nodes. "They are geothermal energy collectors and transmitters. They send the energy to this thing here, the energy capacitor. The capacitor regulates the energy and sends it out each building and piece of equipment. If you destroy the nodes, the capacitor's shields will go down and it will only be held in the air by backup generators. You must destroy it before the backup generator can get the shields back up. Any questions?"

The Rogues were inpatient and shook their heads. General Rieeken nodded and said, "Your ships have already been fully checked and armed and are ready to go. You can decide who is flying what but you are leaving within a half hour. Get moving, Rogue Squadron, and may the force be with you."

On the way to the hanger, Luke murmured, "Alright, who're taking the X-wings and who're taking the Y-wings?"

Wedge chewed a dry lower lip before saying, "Either we can use this as an opportunity to give people experience on fighters we don't use very often or we could stick with people who have the experience."

They headed to the hanger and the pilots waited on their words. Luke cleared his throat and said, "Alright, the following pilots, you'll be flying with me in the Y-wings - Kasan Moor, Tycho Celchu, Dak Ralter, Wes Jansen and Zev Senesca. The rest of you will be flying with Wedge in the X-wings. Get your droids and get to your ships."

Techs ran about, using mag-clamps to load droids into the slots in the starfighters and triple checking fuel and ordinance. By the time the pilots were seated the techs were done and hanger control was giving them the go for launch. One at a time, the starfighters exited and formed up outside. Over the coms, Commander Skywalker said, "Alright Rogues, set course and jump."

* * *

Luke absentmindedly wondered what the Imperials in the installation below were thinking when six Y-wings and six X-wings descended on them and began shredding their buildings and emplacements and dropping bombs on the geothermal collectors and transmitters.

"Alright Rogues, don't forget caution and stay focused. Don't let yourselves get so caught up in taking out the enemy that you lose your three-sixty degree awareness. Keep up visual and electronic scanning;" said Luke as he dropped bombs along a cluster of Imperial buildings, knocking out barracks, motor pools and one of the geothermal collectors. It made quite the spectacular explosion. Suddenly, Artoo began to whistled and beep rapidly. Glancing down at the translator's screen, he saw that Artoo was informing him of the effect massive concussions would have on the volcano. "I see..." murmured Luke, "well, keep me posted, Artoo. We need to be able to pull out if... wait... are there any settlements within the kill zone if this volcano were to erupt?"

After several long moments, Artoo replied in the negative. Luke chuckled. "Oh good. Well, keep scanning the volcano floor and keep me posted."

The missions seemed to be entirely too easy. Missiles literally nose dived right into the volcano until the turrets stopped using homing rockets. The turbo laser turrets were even more sluggish than usual do to the ash and grit getting into the elevation and traversing mechanisms. The walker patrols were next to useless, trying to keep up with the fast moving X-wings and even the much slower Y-wings. Dak snorted into the comms. "This is easier than the simulators."

Luke chuckled but still said, "Don't get cocky and cut the chatter. Stay focused. Wedge, the TIE's are coming in."

"Acknowledged, we're on our way in now, Rogue Leader. Keep going after those collectors and transmitters."

Luke grunted his acknowledgement as he dropped a quartet of bombs on one of the collectors and the buildings around it, leveling everything. "Rogues, report. How many more do we have?"

"Six, Rogue Leader;" reported Kasan as one blew beneath her. "Ordinance check;" he called. Most of the rogues were still good on bombs, having more than half left. When they had reported, Luke said, "Alright, lets target the rest of them and time this right. In exactly thirty seconds, I want bombs dropped from an altitude of fifty meters. That way, we might just blow this entire place."

As soon as they had all identified targets, Luke began a count down. It was perfect. When he said one, the bombs dropped and six explosions rocked and fractured the landscape. Artoo began to whistle and squeak excitedly. "Get clear, Rogues! There's every indication that the volcano's about to erupt!"

They climbed as fast as they could, their fighters trembling against the gravitational pull of the planet as it strove to pull them down. They waited and watched but nothing after happened. After nearly three minutes, Luke commed over, "Wedge, go for the capacitor. Use your torpedoes to destroy the support columns and cooling units."

"You got it, Luke;" said Wedge and the X-wings streaked down and swarmed around the capacitor, methodically and precisely firing their torpedoes. Suddenly, there was an explosion and the capacitor tumbled to the volcano. "Wedge, get out of there now."

Just in time, the X-wings joined them above the volcano and it went up in magma and fire and smoke. A column of ash and smoke shot into the air until it was stopped by a layer of atmosphere and umbrella-ing above. It looked surreal yet breathtaking in its own way. "Well done, Rogue Squadron!" said Luke jubilantly. "Let's get back to the Independence and celebrate."

* * *

 **Aboard the Rebel Cruiser _Independence_**

The Rogues were in for a surprise when they landed. General Rieeken stood there, looking grim and old as they gathered. "Get changed into fresh flight suites and eat a meal, Rogues but then get your butts back here. We just received word that Thyferra is under attack by an Imperial Star Destroyer - apparently the _Enforcer_."

Kasan scowled angrily. "Seerdon;"

"That's right, Lieutenant Moor; we need you to jump ahead of us and engage. I know it's terribly dangerous but that will draw all of his attention and our task force can trap his destroyer. One way or another, we're ending Moff Seerdon's private little war right there on Thyferra."

Luke nodded. "You got it, General. You heard him Rogues; eat, change, take some stims and drink some caff. We're not done yet."

He and Kasan shared a glance at one another, their faces very serious. One way or another, they wouldn't be leaving the battle until Seerdon was either dead or captured.

* * *

 **I'm sorry this one was really short. It's just that this chapter was a set up for the next but at the same time, that particular mission from the 1998 game was short and boring and easy. Again, sorry about that. However, the next one is the last in this story! The final chapter and showdown on Thyferra will be coming soon.**


	9. Chapter 9: Thyferra

**Orbit of Thyferra - Aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer**

The entire operation had gone without a hitch. In fact, it had gone even better than he had thought it would. Not only had he taken all the production facilities on Thyferra, he had discovered that, according to the manifests of the facilities, a large number of shipments were going to the Rebel Alliance. It had taken a while to determine that fact but after working through the list of the corporation's clients and eliminating all the obvious ones - the Imperial Military, various medical facilities, the Corporate Sector, the Hutt Cartels and so on, they found that there were at least a dozen customers under fake names. ISB had run operations and found that those dozen, and indeed many more, were fronts for the Alliance. The only reason that the rebels had gotten away with it was because of Thyferra's neutrality.

As soon as he had found out, Moff Seerdon had ordered, "I want all containers, warehouses and cargo craft going to these companies to be taken over. As soon as the Alliance arrives, destroy them. Destroy all of them. I want Rogue Squadron to be kept so busy, they will be easily picked off and destroyed."

The orders, of course, had been carried out. Bombers, TIE Interceptors, AT-ST Walkers and AT-AE Walkers were in place. Moff Seerdon's technicians had also taken over all turbo laser and seeker missile turrets and readied them for defense.

The whole operation had taken eighteen hours and Seerdon stood looking over the planet from the bridge of his flagship. The confident smile suddenly soured when the comms officer ran up and said, "Sir, I have Darth Vader on one line and the Emperor's Hand on the other."

Moff Seerdon sighed and murmured, "Well, I assumed they would find me eventually. I'll take the Emperor's Han first. At least she's attractive."

Attractive, she may have been. However, her stone cold face did not add to it. She eyed him balefully. "Moff Seerdon, the Emperor is suspicious that you are hiding from him. You have been unreachable for days. Where have you been and why is your task force over Thyferra?"

With a respectful nod and a pleasant smile, Seerdon answered, "I have been putting together a plan to destroy Rogue Squadron and simultaneously acquire control of all bacta production of Thyferra. In fact, I already have control over Thyferra now and am just waiting for Rogue Squadron to arrive at which time, I will destroy them utterly."

The Emperor's Hand raised her eyebrows imperceptibly. "How did you manage that, Moff Seerdon?"

"In short, I deactivated the explosives they placed within their facilities and locked the facilities down with soldiers and stormtroopers. There are also TIE's and walkers standing ready if the locals decide to resist and I have also taken control of all their defensive emplacements."

Her green eyes widened and their was even a small amount of respect. "Impressive, Moff Seerdon; I suggest that you hurry with your mission. Darth Vader will be heading your direction. The Emperor has ordered that he take over your mission and deliver your next assignment."

A chill ran down Moff Seerdon's spine. "I don't suppose I can request that you delay reporting to him."

The Emperor's Hand didn't even bother responding to the suggestion. "He will be there within a few days, Moff Seerdon. I suggest you make good use of your time. Emperor's Hand out."

Moff Seerdon sighed in exasperation. "Sir," prompted the comms officer. "Lord Vader also wishes to speak to you."

"Yes, of course;" replied the Moff tiredly. The imposing figure of Darth Vader buzzed into focus. Moff Seerdon bowed low, "How may I serve you, Lord Vader?"

"The Emperor is most displeased, Moff Seerdon;" rumbled the Dark Lord. "He is of the belief that you have been hiding from him and his precious Hand. That smacks of treason and corruption, Moff Seerdon. I suggest you explain your actions quickly."

"I have taken the bacta facilities of Thyferra and am leading the Rebel Alliance into a trap in the hopes of being able to crush Rogue Squadron. As soon as I have done so, we will also be able to regulate all of the bacta production."

Darth Vader was silent for a moment before rumbling, "Very well, Moff Seerdon; proceed with your mission but, if this is not resolved by the time I arrive, I will be taking over your operation and you will be permanently... reassigned. Do not fail your Emperor again, Moff Seerdon."

The comms were cut and Seerdon shook his head. The threat of permanent reassignment was a clear ultimatum - succeed or be executed for incompetence. He would "Sensor Officer, alert me immediately when any Rebel ships-"

"Sir, a Rebel cruiser has just dropped out of hyperspace! They're launching fighters! X-wings, Y-wings and those upgraded A-wings; the X-wings bare red markings and strange insignia. They're heading for the planet's surface."

Moff Seerdon grinned. "Excellent, gentlemen! Launch TIE's and begin the assault on the selected bacta containers, warehouses and cargo vessels. Have a TIE prepared for me as well. I will see to the destruction of Rogue Squadron personally."

* * *

Luke felt the buck as his entered atmosphere and switched from sublight engines to repulsers. His sensor board was lighting up with possible targets. "Alright Rogue Squadron, break into wing-man teams and split off. Engage any and all Imperial targets. Destroy everything from emplacements and barracks to walkers and TIE's. Call for help if needs be."

Luke and Dak shredded a quartet of walkers, leveled a pair of turbo laser towers and completely leveled a barracks building before razing a command center with a proton torpedo from each of them. They accomplished that much within the first minute of the combat. It took that minute for a flight of TIE Interceptors to bore down on them. Without even communicating, Luke and Dak split off, using a simple and effective dogfight method. Making twin loops, they flew back towards each other and blasted the TIE's off one another before going back to eliminating the Imperial forces. Bombers were executing bombing runs on bacta containers, making themselves the priority. The slow, bulky ships were blasted to pieces just in time for more interceptors to engage them. The fight quickly became desperate.

Wedge and Wes Jansen were flying circles, constantly cleaning TIE Interceptors off of one another and only being able to take out a half a dozen ground targets. "Wedge, things are getting thick up here. We're gonna need help if we're going to be effective at all. SHAVIT! I'm hit! Repulsers are failing!"

"Can you use sublights to make it out of atmo?" asked Wedge anxiously. "Negative! I'm going down but I think I can make a controlled crash!"

"As soon as you hit the ground, you grab any weapons you have and find a place to sit tight. Your droid can transmit your fighter's location and we'll find you later from there;" ordered Wedge before calling over the squadron's frequency, "Rogue Four is down! I repeat, Rogue Four is down! He's crash-landed safely and will need a pick up. Rogue Five and Rogue Seven, where are you? I'll join up with you."

"We're targeting a cluster of walkers and emplacements. Transmitting our location now."

As soon as Tycho had sent the location, Wedge was there, cleaning several TIE's off their tails and forming with them. Suddenly, the comms chimed. "This is Rogue Six and Rogue Eight, we're both down. Rogue Eight was forced to eject and I crash landed close to his landing site. Where did Wes go down?"

Wedge sent the coordinates and they said, "We're not far from there, luckily. We'll meet up with him and hold out until a extraction can be made."

Luke was not happy. Three of his fighters were on the ground. That was a quarter of his pilots. "Alright Rogue Three, take that flight group and engage all Interceptors. The rest of us need to designate. I'll take emplacements. Another group should target standing structures but watch your fire. The last group can take bombers. Get to it, Rogues."

It seemed to help at first but then each group of Rogues were being engaged by TIE Fighters and TIE Interceptors and Wedge's flight group was taking care of their own problems. It wasn't long before one of them went down and didn't answer coms. Another followed as well and Luke cursed. They were completing their mission - the barracks had been leveled and most of the walkers were eliminated as well. The emplacements went next and pretty soon, any bombers were shot down. For the most part, the only opponents left were the TIE's that were intent on destroying them. Suddenly, a call came from one of the three downed Rogues. "Rogue Leader, we have a couple of scout walkers and an advanced enforcer gunning for us. They're backed up by soldiers. Requesting a little air support."

Before Luke could even answer, Tycho said, "We got them, Rogue Leader. Keep on these fighters!"

Kasan and Tycho streaked towards their location. Suddenly, Dak hissed, "Blast it! Rogue Leader, I need to get outta here. My weapons and shields are offline."

"Get back the cruiser, Dak;" ordered Luke. "I'll form up with Wedge."

After clearing another trio of Interceptors off of his executive officer, Luke pulled up beside him. "They seem to be slowing down. We may well almost be done. Come a shuttle to pick up our pilots."

Wedge complied with the order suddenly, Luke's comlink chimed, "This is Commander Skywalker."

"Greetings, Commander Skywalker. So you're the young man who destroyed the Death Star."

Luke gritted his teeth and began to check his sensors for his new target. "Moff Seerdon."

"Do you wish to surrender now or shall I destroy you?" asked the Moff scornfully. As if to prove his point, Kasan and Tycho began to urgently. "Rogue Leader, I have a TIE advanced on me!"

"Luke, I think it's- KRIFF! I'm going down! Punching out!" screamed Kasan.

"Rogue Leader, I have to ejections. They aren't far from the other down Rogues. We need to get this guy!" growled Wedge. Luke concurred. "Take out his support and keep the other fighters off of me. Seerdon is mine!"

The two fighters streaked forward and the TIE Advanced streaked forward to meet them. This one seemed to have been modified because four full blasts from Luke's guns seemed to splash off the shield with good effect but they were still up. Skillfully, Luke spun out of the way, spun around and engaged again. Over the comms, Seerdon chuckled, "Ah, you're a very talented pilot. You have learned much, Skywalker."

Luke didn't bother responding, trying to lock onto his enemy but the Imperial Moff was an expert pilot himself. "It's a pity you didn't join the Empire. I could have used a pilot of your skills."

The TIE suddenly spun, rolled and banked, yanking itself out of Luke's line before twisting around and blazing away at him with his cannons. Luke's shields took a pounding and almost collapsed. He was in deep trouble now. Those advanced TIE's were more maneuverable than X-wings and this one was lighting him up. No matter what Luke attempted, the TIE stayed in him. Luke was about to contact Wedge when a ethereal voice spoke in his head. "Remember the Death Star, Luke. Trust in the force. Stretch out with your feelings."

Taking a deep breath, Luke stretched out and it seemed as though the galaxy slowed down around him. He could sense everything - his opponents confidence was a cold spike. Wedge, tangled with several TIE Interceptors but wanted desperately to break off and save Luke. The downed fighters were engaging in a firefight with soldiers and Stormtroopers but were dug in to a rock formation that gave them good cover. Apparently, the Vratix were rising up as well, killing and driving away Imperial ground forces. It was all so clear and, just as clear, the force directed him. Luke slammed the reverse thrusters and pulled up just slightly, allowing his opponent to shoot beneath him. It was a simple trick and Moff Seerdon quickly banked left and used thrusters and reverse thrusters to spin around and face Luke almost in place. Luke didn't need his targeting computer. The force directed his fire and he squeezed the trigger. With a flash, Seerdon's shields dropped and he was forced to pull off target, spinning as his wings smoked from chard holes ripped into them. "Impossible!" snarled the Moff, as if it were a curse that would destroy Skywalker. "Even if you win today, Skywalker, the Empire will _crush_ the Rebellion."

Luke didn't reply but copied the Moff's own trick, cutting his port thrusters and gunning the reverse thrusters while simultaneously gunning his starboard forward thrusters. Just like that, Moff Seerdon was in his sites again. With a grim smile, Luke squeezed the trigger and one of the Moff's solar panels was ripped free. With billowing smoke and an obnoxious whine, the TIE spun down into the ground. Suddenly, a figure ejected from the vehicle. Gritting his teeth, Luke was sorely tempted to vape the Moff in his seat but the force held him back. The ethereal voice said, "He is beaten, Luke. There is no need to kill him. He will be dealt with soon enough."

"Rogue Leader, where did his seat land?" asked Wedge. Luke checked the scanners. "Half a kilometer from where our pilots are being picked up. Keep watch over the dropship. I'll keep an eye on our Moff."

* * *

Moff Seerdon glared up at the X-wing that circled over his head. "Bastards!" he growled. He had activated his beacon and was waiting for pick up. Suddenly, the _Enforcer_ contacted his personal comlink. "Moff Seerdon, the _Executer_ has just dropped out of hyperspace and- what the hell! Sir, the _Executer_ is firing on us!'

Moff Seerdon could see the flashes even from where he stood on the ground. His mouth hung open and it dawned on him. Darth Vader realized his failure and was cleaning up the mess. The Sith Lord would contact the Vratix and explain that Moff Seerdon had gone rogue and that the Emperor would be most obliged if they would not take his actions as the actions of the Empire. The Vratix would undoubtedly take his word for it. They would have to or they would undoubtedly have to deal with the Dark Lord and his infamous 501st Legion.

Utter hopelessness filled the Moff and he pulled his side arm, considering it carefully. All had been ruined by those blasted rebel fighters. Luke Skywalker, Wedge Antilles, Kasan Moor and their friends had ruined him and Moff Seerdon knew that they would bring the Empire down. No one, not even Darth Vader would be able to stop them now. Lord Vader would execute him however and that was something that Moff Kohl Seerdon would not give the Sith Lord such satisfaction. Taking a deep breath, he put the blaster pistol to his head, only to have a hand grasp his blaster hand and yank it down behind his back. "I don't think so, Seerdon!"

Kasan Moor was behind him and slapped binders on his wrists. "You will face Imperial justice, the very justice you promised on me!"

An Imperial shuttle was already descending. "Here he comes. Goodbye, Moff Seerdon. Keep a place warm for me in hell."

She was gone and Moff Seerdon was on his knees, his hands bound behind his back. He struggled to stand to his feet and watched as the rebels' dropship passed the Imperial ship by less than a kilometer. Seerdon resisted the urge to stamp his feet in frustration. Lord Vader was showing that he wanted to maintain the truce on Thyferra by allowing two rebel X-wings and a dropship pass him by when he could probably crush them with a flick of his mind.

Seerdon looked around for a path of escape but when he found one and attempted to take it, he found that he could not move. Some unseen force was locking him in place. The Imperial shuttle landed and the ramp lowered. Down the ramp strode Darth Vader, flanked by a pair of elite stormtroopers. Moff Seerdon was freed and turned to face the Dark Lord. "Lord Vader, I take it you are here to 'reassign' me."

His voice was defiant, even in the end. Lord Vader did not bother answering his question. "The Emperor's Hand told me of your plan, Moff Seerdon and suggested that I prepare for damage control. When I arrived and saw that you had failed, I put my contingency plan into action."

"I see; so destroying my fleet and killing tens of thousands of Imperial personnel was damage control?"

"You attacked your own homeworld, your own capital city, no less, and leveled it, all to kill a mere dozen rebel pilots. I think that you should examine your own actions before attempting to judge your superiors. Stormtroopers, take him into custody. We must meet our hosts."

At first, Moff Seerdon was confused and even a little hopeful. That quickly died however when they landed in the smoldering ruins of a cluster of bacta containers. A large gathering of Vratix were there, including some of their leadership. The Stormtroopers marched him down the ramp. Lord Vader was ahead of them and a protocol droid followed behind. "This is the rogue Imperial Moff who committed these crimes against you;" announced the Sith Lord. The droid translated as he spoke. The Stormtroopers pushed him onto his knees. To Seerdon's surprise, the Dark Lord did not use the force to kill him as was his want but instead, unclipped his lightsaber. Moff Seerdon glared up at him as he ignited the crimson blade. "The Empire will fall. Skywalker and his Rebel Alliance will bring is to its knees and there is nothing that you, your fleet or all of your mystical power will be able to do about it. Not even you can stop the inevitable, Lord Vader."

The Dark Lord did not reply. With a humming whoosh and a crackling hiss, Moff Kohl Seerdon's head rolled from his shoulders and his body slumped forward. After placing his weapon back on his belt, Darth Vader turned back to the Vratix. "I hope that, since the criminal has been brought to justice, your facilities and your neutrality can be restored."

One of the Vratix began to chitter and click in their strange dialect. The translator said, "He says that it can but only if the Empire pays for the damage that this Imperial warlord caused."

Lord Vader replied, "Tell him that a diplomat is already on the way from Imperial Center and will be here within a day or two."

The droid relayed the message and the very short negotiations concluded. The stormtroopers gathered up the Moff's remains and they departed.

* * *

 **Hyperspace - Aboard the Alliance cruiser _Independence_**

There wasn't a cruiser wide celebration. In fact, rather than some slaps on the back, a couple of gold medals for distinguished service here and there and the twelve Rogues in one of the half empty cargo holds, drinking, dancing and listening to music, there was no celebration. Luke and Wedge watched their pilots dance and laugh. To the other members of the crew, it was another victory that secured their bacta supply. To the Rogues, a dangerous enemy had been eliminated - an enemy who had been hounding them since before Kasan had defected. Now Moff Kohl Seerdon was either imprisoned or dead - most likely dead if Lord Vader's reputation was anything to go by. For the rest of the Rebellion, it was just another mission complete.

As Luke and Wedge sipped their drinks and watched in proud silence, General Crix Madine, General Carlist Rieeken and Agent Winter Retrac came in. "Most of the Alliance doesn't understand why this was so important;" murmured Rieeken as he watched the Rogues in their revelry. "Sure, they understand the bacta situation but other than that, they seem to have no idea."

Luke looked at him. Crix Madine chuckled and said, "Moff Seerdon was one of those Imperials who stayed in the background until called on to perform a mission. If he had not been stopped, he would have gone on to commit even more terrible atrocities and possible would have been the next Grand Moff Tarkin. I think he would have been worse, though. He was even more ambitious and was even more power hungry."

They all nodded. Across the dance floor, Kasan shot Luke a glance and smiled, cocking an eyebrow. With a smile, Luke downed his drink and said, "Excuse me, Generals, Agent Retrac."

They watched as the commander went over and danced with his less-than secret girl friend. No one talked about it. No one acknowledged it but everyone accepted it. Wedge sighed and said, "So, Hoth huh? They have use going to our new main base?"

"That's right, Captain;" replied Winter and handed him a data stick. "Give this to Commander Skywalker when you are done with your party. It will be your new assignment."

Wedge frowned. "I don't understand. We're a fighter squadron."

"That you are;" replied General Rieeken, "but we'll also need you to take on other duties as well. Don't worry. You'll be in cockpits some of the time."

Somehow, that did not reassure Wedge very much.


	10. Epilogue

Luke glumly dressed in an extreme cold weather uniform, wrapping a thick scarf around his face and adjusting his goggles. Even more than the desert planet of Tatooine, he hated this place. "'You're going to Hoth' they said;" he muttered under his breath mutinously, "'you'll still be in a cockpit' they said. What they forgot to mention is that the airspeeders were not used to the level of cold that this planet could get to. Figures."

They were reduced to tauntaun patrols now, riding the nasty smelling creatures through the never ending snow. As he walked to the hanger, he caught Princess Leia's eye passing the command center. She hurried after him. "Be careful! There are wampas and who knows what else out there."

Luke chuckled. "Okay, mom;" said Luke sardonically, earning a swat on the arm. "Luke, I'm being serious. We need you in one piece."

Luke hugged her and said, "Han will be watching my back. It'll be fine."

Leia scowled and muttered, "Yeah, as if that means anything."

Luke just shook his head, not wanting to get into it with her - again. "I'll see you when I get back. We can grab dinner."

Leia hugged him one more time before hustling back to the command center.

At the tauntaun paddocks, Kasan waited for him. She yanked him into a blood boiling kiss and said, "You be careful out there. If I have to come and get you, you will be in huge trouble."

Luke hugged her and said, "It's just another patrol. Everything will be fine."

"Hey kid, you ready or what?" called Han from the exit to the paddocks. Luke chuckled and kissed Kasan one more time before hopping onto his tauntaun's back. Side by side, he and Han rode out into the tundra.

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed this story. We have one more story and the missions will be those from the second and third Rogue Squadron games and will begin to follow Wedge more than Luke since Luke will be gone on his Jedi training sabbatical and such. Anyhow, read, review and request.**


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